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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/23510-0.txt b/23510-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9ee6d73 --- /dev/null +++ b/23510-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1186 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sheriffs Bluff, by Thomas Nelson Page + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Sheriffs Bluff + 1908 + +Author: Thomas Nelson Page + +Release Date: November 16, 2007 [EBook #23510] +Last Updated: March 8, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SHERIFFS BLUFF *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + +THE SHERIFFS BLUFF + +By Thomas Nelson Page + +Charles Scribner's Sons New York, 1908 + +Copyright, 1891, 1904, 1906 + + + + +I + +The county of H------ was an old Colonial county, and even as late as +the time of my story contained many Colonial relics. Among them were the +court-house and the jail, and, at that time, the Judge and the Sheriff. + +The court-house was an old brick edifice of solemn and grayish brown, +with a portico whose mighty columns might have stood before a temple +of Minerva overlooking the Ægean Sea. With its thick walls and massive +barred windows, it might have been thought the jail, until one saw the +jail. The jail once seen stood alone. A cube of stone, each block huge +enough to have come from the Pyramid of Cheops; the windows, or rather +the apertures, were small square openings, crossed and recrossed +with great bars of wrought iron, so massive that they might have been +fashioned on the forge of the Cyclops. Looking through them from the +outside, one saw just deep enough into the narrow cavern to see another +iron grating, and catch a suspicion of the darkness beyond. The entrance +was but a slit letting into a stone-paved corridor on which opened the +grinding iron doors of the four small cells, each door a grate of huge +iron bars, heavily crossed, with openings just large enough to admit +a hand. The jail was built, not to meet the sentimental or any other +requirements of a reasonable and humane age, but in that hard time when +crime was reckoned crime, when the very names of “gaol” and “prison” + stood for something clear and unmistakable. + +The Judge of the circuit was himself a relic of the past, for his youth +had been cast among those great ones of the earth whose memory had come +down coupled with deeds so heroic and far-reaching, that even to the +next generation the actors appeared half enveloped and magnified in the +halo of tradition. His life had been one of high rectitude and dignity, +to which habits of unusual studiousness and a great work on Executors +had added a reputation for vast learning, and in his old age both in his +manner and his habit he preserved a distance and a dignity of demeanor +which lent dignity to the Bar, and surrounded him wherever he went +with a feeling akin to awe. Though he had given up the queue and short +clothes, he still retained ruffles, or what was so closely akin to them +that the difference could scarcely be discerned. Tall, grave, and with a +little bend, not in the shoulders but in the neck; with white hair just +long enough to be brushed behind in a way to suggest the knot which +had once appeared at the back; with calm, quiet eyes under bushy white +eyebrows; a face of pinkish red inherited from Saxon ancestors, who once +lived in the sun and on the brine, and a mouth and chin which bespoke +decision and self-respect in every line and wrinkle, wherever he moved +he produced an impression of one who had survived from a preceding age. +Moreover, he was a man of heroic ideals, of Spartan simplicity, and of +inflexible discipline. + +If he had a weakness it was his susceptibility to feminine testimony. + +The county was a secluded one--a fitting field for such a judge. And the +great meetings of the year were the sessions of the Circuit Court. + +The Judge's name was then on every lip, and his passage to the +court-house was a procession. + +Everyone except those unfortunates who had come under his ban, or might +be too far gone in drink to venture into his presence, drew up along +the path from the tavern to bow to him and receive his courteous bow in +return as he passed with slow and thoughtful step along, preceded by the +Sheriff and his deputies, and followed by the Bar and “the multitude.” + +Whenever he entered the court or rose from the bench the lawyers stood. + +If he was impressive off the bench, on the bench he was imposing. + +At heart one of the kindest of men, he added to great natural dignity a +high sense of the loft-iness of a position on the bench and preserved, +with impartial and inflexible rigor, the strictest order in his court, +ruling bar and attendants alike up to a high accountability. + +No one would any more have thought of taking a liberty with Judge Lomax +than he would have done it with an old lion. Just one man, possibly, +might have thought of it, but he would not have done it--and this was +Aleck Thompson, the Sheriff of the county, a jovial man past middle age, +a rubicund bachelor, who had courted half the girls in the county and +was intimate with more than half the people in the circuit. He was +daring even to rashness. He had held the office of Sheriff--not so long, +perhaps, as the Judge had sat on the bench, but, at least, since he +first stood for the place; and he could hold it as long as he wished it. +He was easily the most popular man in the county. He treated everybody +with unvarying joviality and indiscriminate generosity, and it was known +that his income, though large, was, except so much as was absolutely +necessary for his support, distributed with impartial fairness among the +people of his county, a part over the poker-table, a part over the bar, +and the balance in other popular ways. He had a face that no one could +read, and bluffed as well with a pair of treys as with four aces. But +he used to say that such a bluff was to be used rarely, and only on +important occasions. + +Now and then some opposition to him would arise and a small headway +would be made against him. As, for instance, after he advised Squire +Jefford's plump and comely daughter, Mary, not to marry Dick Creel, +because Dick was too dissipated. There were some who said that the +Sheriff had designs himself on Sam Jefford's buxom, black-eyed daughter, +while others held that he was afraid of young Dick, who was an amiable +and popular young fellow, and that he did not want him to get too much +influence in the lower end of the county. However it was, Mary Jefford +not only married her young lover, but sobered him, and as she was young, +pretty, and ambitious, and worshipped her husband, Dick Creel at the +next election, to use the vernacular, “made cornsideruble show runnin' +ag'inst the Sheriff, and give him cornsideruble trouble.” Still, +Thompson was elected overwhelmingly, and few people believed Mary +Creel's charge that the Sheriff had got Dick drunk on purpose to beat +him. Thompson said, “Did n't anybody have to _git_ Dick drunk--the work +was t'other way.” + + + + +II + +The session of the Circuit Court in the “------ year of the +Commonwealth,” as the writs ran, and “in the sixteenth year of Aleck +Thompson's Sheriffalty,” as that official used to say, was more than +usually important. The noted case of “_Dolittle et al. vs. Dolittle's +Executrix_” was tried at the autumn term of the court, and caused +considerable excitement in the county; for, in addition to the amount +of property and the nice questions of law which were involved, the two +sides had been severally espoused by two sister churches, and nearly +half the county was in attendance, either as witnesses or interested +spectators. Not only was every available corner in the little village +filled to overflowing with parties, witnesses, and their adherents, but +during the first week of the term the stable yards and road-sides were +lined with covered wagons and other vehicles, in or under which some +of those who had not been fortunate enough to obtain shelter in the +inn used to sleep, and “Briles's bar” under the tavern did a thriving +business. + +As the case, however, wore on, and the weather became inclement, the +crowd dropped off somewhat, though a sufficient number still remained to +give an air of life to the little roadside village. + +Certain of these visitors found the bar-room on the ground floor of +the tavern across the road more attractive than the court-room, and as +evening came the loud talking in that direction told that the visits had +not been fruitless. + +Perfect order, however, prevailed in the court, until one evening one +of these visitors, a young man named Turkle, who had been spending the +afternoon at the bar, made his way into the court-room. He was clad in +a dingy, weather-stained overcoat and an old slouch hat. He sank into +a seat at the end of a bench near the door and, being very drunk, soon +began to talk aloud to those about him. + +“Silence!” called the Sheriff over the heads of the crowd from his desk +in front, and those near the man cautioned him to stop talking. A moment +later, however, he began again. Again the Sheriff roared “Silence!” But +by this time the hot air of the court-room had warmed up Mr. Turkle, and +in answer to the warning of those about him, he declared in a maudlin +tone, that he “Warn't goin' to keep silence.” + +“I got 's much right to talk 's anyone, and I'ma goin' to talk 's much +'s I please.” + +His friends tried to silence him, and the Sheriff made his way through +the crowd and endeavored to induce him to leave the court-room. But it +was to no purpose. Jim Turkle was much too “far gone” to know what he +was doing, though he was in a delightfully good humor. He merely hugged +the Sheriff and laughed drunkenly. + +“Aleck, you jist go 'way f'om here. I ain't a-goin' to shet up. You shet +up yourself. I 'm a-goin' to talk all I please. Now, you hear it.” + +Then as if to atone for his rudeness, he caught the Sheriff roughly by +the arm and pulled him toward him: + +“Aleck, how 's the case goin'? Is Mandy a goin' to win? Is that old +rascal rulin' right!” + +The Sheriff urged something in a low voice, but Turkle would not be +silenced. + +“Now you see thar,” he broke out with a laugh to those about him, “did +n't I tell you Aleck wa' n 't nothin' but a' ol' drunkard? What d' +you s'pose the ol' rascal wants me to do? He wants me to go over there +to the bar and git drunk like 'im, and I ain't goin' to do it. I never +drink. I 've come here to see that my cousin Mandy's chil'ern gits +their patrimony, and I ain' a goin' to 'sociate with these here drunken +fellows like Aleck Thompson.” + +The Sheriff made a final effort. He spoke positively, but Turkle would +not heed. + +“Oh, 'Judge' be damned! You and I know that ol' fellow loves a dram jest +'s well 's the best of 'em--jest 's well 's you do. Look at his face. +You think he got that drinkin' well-water! Bet yer he 's got a bottle in +'s pocket right now.” + +A titter ran through the crowd, but was suddenly stopped. + +A quiet voice was heard from the other end of the court-room, and a +deathly silence fell on the assemblage. + +“Suspend for a moment, gentlemen, if you please. Mr. Sheriff, bring that +person to the bar of the Court.” + +The crowd parted as if by magic, and the Sheriff led his drunken +constituent to the bar, where his befuddled brain took in just enough of +the situation to make him quiet enough. The Judge bent his sternest look +on him until he quailed. + +“Have you no more sense of propriety than to disturb a court of justice +in the exercise of its high function?” + +Turkle, however, was too drunk to understand this. He tried to steady +himself against the bar. + +“I ain't is-turbed no Court of function, and anybody 't says so, Jedge, +iz a liar.” He dragged his hand across his mouth and tried to look +around upon the crowd with an air of drunken triumph, but he staggered +and would have fallen had not the Sheriff caught and supported him. + +The Judge's eyes had never left him. + +“Mr. Sheriff, take this intoxicated creature and confine him in the +county gaol until the expiration of the term. The very existence of a +court of justice depends upon the observance of order. Order must be +preserved and the dignity of the Court maintained.” + +There was a stir--half of horror--throughout the court-room. Put a man +in that jail just for being tight! + +Then the Sheriff on one side and his deputy on the other, led the +culprit out, now sufficiently quiet and half whimpering. A considerable +portion of the crowd followed him. + +Outside, the prisoner was sober enough, and he begged hard to be let +off and allowed to go home. His friends, too, joined in his petition and +promised to guarantee that he would not come back again during the term +of court. But the Sheriff was firm. + +“No. The Judge told me to put you in jail and I 'm goin' to do it.” He +took two huge iron keys from his deputy and rattled them fiercely. + +Turkle shrank back with horror. + +“You ain't goin' to put me in thar, Aleck! Not in that hole! Not just +for a little drop o' whiskey. It was _your_ whiskey, too, Aleck. I was +drinkin' yo' health, Aleck. You know I was.” + +“The Judge won't know anything about it. He 'll never think of it +again,” pleaded several of Turkle's friends. “You know he has ordered a +drunken man put there before and never said any more about it--just told +you to discharge him next day.” + +Turkle stiffened up with hope. + +“Yes, Aleck.” He leaned on the Sheriff's arm heavily. “He 's drunk +himself--I don't mean that, I mean _you 're_ drunk--oh, no--I mean _I'm_ +drunk. Everybody 's drunk.” + +“Yes, you 've gone and called me a drunkard before the Court. Now I 'm +goin' to show you.” Thompson rattled his big keys again savagely. + +Turkle caught him with both hands. + +“Oh, Aleck, don't talk that a-way,” he pleaded in a tremulous voice. +“Don't talk that a-way!” He burst into tears and flung his arms around +the Sheriff's neck. He protested that he had never, seen him take a +drink in his life; he would go and tell the Judge so; if necessary, he +would swear to it on a Bible. + +“Aleck, you know I love you better than anybody in this world--except my +wife and children. Yes, better than them--better than Jinny. Jinny will +tell you that herself. Oh! Aleck!” He clung to him and sobbed! + +His friends indorsed this and declared that they would bring him back if +the Judge demanded his presence. They would “promise to bring him back +dead or alive at any time he sent for him.” + +As Turkle and his friends were always warm supporters of the Sheriff, a +fact of which they did not fail to remind him, Thompson was not averse +to letting him off, especially as he felt tolerably sure that the Judge +would, as they said, forget all about the matter, or, if he remembered +it, would, as he had done before, simply order him to discharge the +prisoner. So, after dragging the culprit to the jail door to scare him +well and make his clemency the more impressive, he turned him over to +the others on condition that he would mount his mule and go straight +home and not come back again during the term. This Turkle was so glad to +do that he struck out at once for the stable at what Thompson called a +“turkey trot,” and five minutes later he was galloping down the road, +swinging mightily on his sorrel mule, but whipping for life. + +That night Thompson was much toasted about the court-house for his +humanity. Several of his admirers, indeed, got into somewhat the same +condition that Turkle had been in. + +Even Dick Creel, who had come to court that day, lapsed from virtue and +fell a victim to the general hilarity. + + + + +III + +The next morning when court was opened, the Judge was even more than +usually dignified and formal. The customary routine of the morning +was gone through with; the orders of the day before were read and +were signed by the Judge with more than wonted solemnity. The Clerk, a +benignant-looking old man with a red face and a white beard, took up his +book and adjusted his glasses to call the pending docket: the case of +“_Dolittle vs. Dolittle's Ex'ex._,” and the array of counsel drew their +chairs up to the bar and prepared for the work of the day, when the +Judge, taking off his spectacles, turned to the Sheriff's desk. + +“Mr. Sheriff, bring in that unfortunate inebriate whom I sentenced to +confinement in the gaol yesterday. The Court, while sensible of the +imperative necessity of protecting itself from all unseemly disorder and +preserving its dignity undiminished, nevertheless always leans to the +side of mercy. The Court trusts that a night's incarceration may have +sufficiently sobered and chastened the poor creature. The Court will +therefore give him a brief admonition and will then discharge him.” + +The Judge sat back in his large arm-chair and waited benignantly with +his gaze resting placidly in front of him, while a deathly silence fell +on the crowd and every eye in the courthouse was turned on the Sheriff. + +Thompson, standing at his desk, was staring at the Judge with jaw +dropped and a dazed look like a man who had suddenly to face judgment. +He opened his lips twice as if to speak, then turned and went slowly out +of the court-house like a man in a dream, while those left behind looked +in each other's eyes, some half scared and others more than half amused. + +Outside, Thompson stopped just between two of the great pillars. +He rammed his hands deep in his pockets and gazed vacantly over the +court-green and up the road. + +“What will he do with you! Remove you!” asked two or three friends who +had slipped out of the door behind him and now stood about him. + +“He 'll put me in jail--_and_ remove me.” + +***** + +“No matter if he says black 's white and white 's black, don't you open +your mouth or you 'll get it. It 's much as I can do to keep you out of +jail this minute.” + +“But, Sheriff--! But, Aleck--! Just wait a minute! I don't----” + +The next instant he was inside the courthouse and the Sheriff was +marching him up the aisle between the upturned faces. He planted him at +the bar immediately before the Court, pulling off his hat in such a way +as to drag his hair over his face and give him an even more dishevelled +appearance than before. Then he moved around to his own desk, keeping +his eye fixed piercingly on the astonished Creel's bewildered face. A +gasp went over the court-room, and the Bar stared at the prisoner in +blank amazement. + +The Judge alone appeared oblivious of his presence. He had sat +absolutely silent and motionless since he had given the order to the +Sheriff to produce the prisoner, his face expressive of deep reflection. +Now he withdrew his eye from the ceiling. + +“Oh!” + +With impressive deliberation he put on his large gold-rimmed spectacles; +sat up in his chair; assumed his most judicial expression, which sat +curiously on his benignant face, and looked severely down upon the +culprit. The court-room shivered and Thompson's round face grew +perceptibly whiter; but his eyes, after a single glance darted at the +Judge, never left the face of the man at the bar. + +The next second the Judge began to speak, and Thompson, and the +court-room with him, heaved a deep sigh of relief. + +“Young man,” said the Judge, “you have committed an act of grievous +impropriety. You have been guilty of one of the most reprehensible +offences that any citizen of a Commonwealth founded upon order and +justice could commit, an act of such flagrant culpability that the +Court, in the maintenance of its dignity and in the interest of the +Commonwealth found it necessary to visit upon you punishment of great +severity and incarcerate you in the gaol usually reserved for the most +depraved malefactors. Intemperance is one of the most debasing of +vices. It impairs the intellect and undermines the constitution. To +the inhibition of Holy Writ is added the cumulative if inferential +prohibition of the Law, which declines to consider inebriety, though +extreme enough in degree to impair if not destroy the reasoning faculty, +in mitigation of crime of the highest---- dignity. If you had no beloved +family to whom your conduct would be an affliction, yet you have a duty +to yourself and to the Commonwealth which you have flagrantly violated. +To shocking inebriety you added the even grosser misdemeanor of +disturbing a Court in the exercise of its supreme function: the calm, +orderly, and deliberate administration of justice between the citizens +of the Commonwealth.” + +“But, Judge--?” began the young man. + +A sharp cough from the Sheriff interrupted him and he glanced at the +Sheriff to meet a menacing shake of the head. + +The strangeness of the scene and the impressive solemnity of the Judge +so wrought upon the young man that he began to whimper. He looked at the +Judge and once more opened his mouth to speak, but the Sheriff, called, +sharply: + +“Silence!” + +Creel glanced appealingly from the Judge to the Sheriff, only to meet +another imperative shake of the latter's head and a warning scowl. Then +the Judge proceeded, in a tone that showed that he was not insensible to +his altered manner. + +“The Court, always mindful of that mercy whose quality 'is not strained, +but droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath,' +trusts that your recent incarceration, though brief, may prove adequate +to the exigencies of the occasion. It hopes that the incarceration +of one night in the common gaol may prove in case of a young man like +yourself sufficiently efficacious to deter you from the repetition of +so grave a misdemeanor, and at the same time not crush too much that +generous spirit of youth which in its proper exercise may prove so +advantageous to its possessor, and redound so much to the benefit of +the Commonwealth. The order of the Court, therefore, is that the Sheriff +discharge you from further imprisonment. + +“Mr. Sheriff, conduct the young man to the door, caution him against a +recurrence of his offence, and direct him toward his home. + +“We will now proceed to call the docket.” + +The court-room with another gasp broke into a buzz, which was instantly +quelled by the sharp command of the Sheriff for silence and order in the +court. + +“But, Judge--” began Creel again, “I don't understand--” + +What he did not understand was not heard, for Thompson seized the +prisoner before he could finish his sentence, and, with a grip of steel +on his arm, hustled him down the aisle and out of the court-room. + +A good many persons poured out of the court-room after them and with +subdued laughter followed the Sheriff and his charge across the green. +Thompson, however, did not wait for them. The young man appeared +inclined to argue. But the Sheriff gave him no time. Hurrying him down +the walk, he unhitched his horse for him and ordered him to mount. + +“But, Sheriff--Mr. Thompson, I 'm darned if I understand what it is all +about.” + +“You were drunk,” said Thompson--“flagrantly inebriated. Go home. Did +n't you hear the Judge?” + +“Yes, I heard him. He 's doty. I might have been drunk, but I 'm darned +if I slept in jail last night--I slept in----” + +“I 'm darned if you did n't,” said the Sheriff. “The Judge has ruled +it so, and so you did. Now go home and don't you come back here again +during this term, or you will sleep in jail again.” + +“That old Judge is doty,” declared the young man with a tone of +conviction. + +“So much the worse for you if you come back here. Go home now, just as +quick as you can.” + +Creel reflected for a moment. + +“Well, it beats my time. I 'll tell you what I 'll do, Mr. Thompson,” he +said, half pleadingly. “I 'll go home and stay there if you will promise +not to tell my wife I was in jail.” + +“I promise you,” said Aleck, solemnly. “I give you my word I won't.” + +“And what 's more,” continued Creel, “if you 'll keep anybody else from +doing it, I 'll vote for you next time for Sheriff.” + +“I promise you that, too,” said Aleck, “and if anybody says you were +there, let me know, and I 'll come up there and--and tell her you were +n't. I can't do any more than that, can I?” + +“No, you can't do any more than that,” admitted Creel, sadly, and, +leaning over and shaking hands with the Sheriff cordially for the first +time in some years, he rode away in profound dejection. + +“Well, I 've got to face Mary,” he said, “and I reckon I might as well +do it. Whiskey is a queer thing. I must have been a lot drunker than I +thought I was, because if the Court had n't ruled it, I would have sworn +I slept in that there wing room last night.” + +“Well, that 's the best bluff I ever put up,” said Thompson to the +throng about him as he turned back to the court-house. + +The Sheriff's bluff became the topic of the rest of the term. Such +audacity, such resourcefulness had never been known. Thompson became +more popular than ever, and his re-election the following spring was +admitted to be certain. + +“That Aleck Thompson 's the smartest man that is,” declared one of his +delighted adherents. + +Thompson himself thought so, too, and his imitation of the Judge, of +Dick Creel, and of himself in court became his most popular story. + +Only the old Judge moved among the throng of tittering laymen calm, +dignified, and unsuspecting. + +“If ever he gets hold of you, Aleck,” said one of that worthy's +worshippers, “there 's likely to be a vacancy in the office of sheriff.” + +“He 'll put me in jail,” laughed Aleck. “Dick Creel says he 's kind o' +doty.” + + + + +IV + +The Court was nearing the end of the term, _Dolittle et al. vs. +Dolittle's Executrix_, with all its witnesses and all its bitternesses, +had resulted in a mistrial, and the sister churches were wider apart +than ever. The rest of the docket was being daily disposed of. + +The Sheriff was busy one day telling his story to an admiring throng on +the court-green when someone casually observed that Mrs. Dick Creel had +got off the train that morning. + +The Sheriff's face changed a little. + +“Where is she!” + +“Waitin' in the tavern parlor.” + +“What is she doing here! What is she doing in there!” + +“Jest a settin' and a waitin'.” + +“I 'spect she is waitin' for you, Aleck!” hazarded one of his friends. + +There was a burst of laughter, for Squire Jefford's daughter, Mary, was +known to be “a woman of her own head.” + +The Sheriff laughed, too; but his laughter was not as mirthful as usual. +He made an ineffectual attempt to keep up his jollity. + +“I reckon I 'll go and see Mary,” he said at length. + +He left the group with affected cheerfulness, but his heart was heavier +than he liked to admit. He made his way to the “ladies' parlor,” as +the little sitting-room in the south wing of the rambling old tavern, +overlooking the court-green was called, and opened the door. + +On one side of the wood fire, in a stiff, high-backed chair sat a young +woman, in her hat and wrap and gloves, “jest a settin' and a waitin'.” + She was a well-made and comely young woman under thirty, with a ruddy +face, smooth hair and bright eyes that the Sheriff knew could both smile +and snap. Her head was well set on rather plump shoulders; her mouth was +well formed, but was now close drawn, and her chin was strong enough to +show firmness--too much firmness, as Thompson mentally decided when he +caught its profile. + +The Sheriff advanced with an amiable smile. He was so surprised. + +“Why, you here, Mary! When did you come?” His tone was affable and even +testified pleasure. But Mary did not unbend. She was as stiff as the +chair she sat in. Without turning her head she turned her eyes and +looked at him sideways. + +“_Mrs. Creel_.” + +There was a glint in her black eyes that meant war, and Thompson's +countenance fell. + +“Ah-ur-Mrs. Creel.” + +“I did n't know as you 'd know me!” She spoke quietly, her eyes still on +him sidewise. + +“Not know you! Why, of course, I know you. I don't forget the pretty +girls--leastways, the prettiest girl in the county. Your father and +I------” + +“I heard you made a mistake about my husband and Jim Turkle. I thought +maybe you might think I was _Mrs_. Turkle.” + +There was the least perceptible lifting of her shoulders and drawing +down of her mouth, but quite enough to suggest Jenny Turkle 's high +shoulders and grim face. + +The Sheriff tried to lighten the conversation. + +“Oh! Come now, Mary, you must n't get mad about that. It was all a joke. +I was comin' right up after court adjourned to tell you about it--and--. +It was the funniest thing! You 'd 'a' died laughing if you 'd been here +and seen----” + +“I heard they was all laughin' about it. _I_ ain't so easy to amuse.” + +“Oh! Yes, you would, too,” began Thompson, cajolingly. “If you 'd +seen----” + +“What time does Court adjourn!” she asked, quietly and irrelevantly, + +“Oh, not for two or three--not for _several_ days yet--Probably 't will +hold over till well into next week. But if you 'd seen----” + +“I mean what time does it let out _to-day?_” + +Thompson's face fell again. + +“Why--ah--about--ah--Why! What do you want to know for!” + +“I want to see the Judge.” Her voice was dead level. + +“What about!” + +“About business!” + +“What business!” + +“_Co'te_ business,” with cold irony. + +“You don't mean that you 're goin' to----!” + +He paused without framing the rest of the question. + +She suddenly stood up and flamed out. + +“Yes, I am--that 's just what I am goin' to do. That 's what I 've come +here for. You may take a liberty with the Judge--he 's doty; but you +can't take a liberty with _me_--I 'm Squire Jefford's daughter, and I 'm +goin' to show you.” + +She was facing him now, and her black eyes were darting fire. Thompson +was quite staggered. + +“Why, Mary! I am surprised at you. Your father's old friend--who has had +you on his knee many a time. I am shocked and surprised--and mortified +and--astonished--and mortified----” + +“You 've done said that one once,” she said, icily. + +“Why, Mary, I thought we were friends--” he began. But she cut in on +him. + +“Friends!” She spoke with contempt. “You 've had it in for Dick ever +since he was a boy.” Her voice suddenly broke and the tears sprang to +her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. + +“Why, Mary--no such thing--I assure you--Dick and I are the best of +friends--_dear_ friends.” + +Her sniff was more forcible than words. She wiped her eyes and looked at +him with freezing contempt. + +“I 'm a fool! And I don't want you to be _Mary_-in' me, either. If Dick +chooses to let you get him drunk and make a beast and a fool of him and +drag him up before the Court like a--a--like that drunkard, Jim Turkle, +what don't know how to behave himself seemly in Court, and Circuit Court +at that--he may; but I 'll let you know, _I'm_ not goin' to do it. I +don't mean the Judge to think my husband's a thing like that. I mean to +set him right. And I 'll tell him you are nothing but an old gambler who +spends your time ruinin' young men, and braggin' as how you can bluff +anybody.” + +“Mary!--ur--Mrs. Creel!” gasped the Sheriff. + +She stalked by him wiping her eyes, and marched straight to the door; +but the Sheriff was too quick for her. His office, his reputation, +everything hung on his pacifying her. He sprang to the door and, +standing with his back against it, began to apologize in so humble a +tone that even the angry wife could not but listen to him. + +He said everything that any mortal could have said, and declared that he +would do anything on earth that she might ask. + +She reflected, and he began to hope again. When their eyes met, hers +were still hard, but they were calmer. + +“I know you think you are making a fool of me,” she began, and then as +he protested she shut him up with a sharp gesture. + +“Yes, you do, you think so; but you are not. There is but one thing I +will accept in apology.” + +“What is that!” + +“You are to make Dick your deputy.” + +“But, M----” + +“I knew you would n't. Stand aside.” She gave a sweep of the arm. + +“But, Mary!” + +“Stand aside, I say--I 'd rather have you removed anyway.” + +“But, Mary, just listen----” + +“Stand aside, or I will call.” She straightened herself and looked past +him, as if listening. + +“But, Mary, do be reasonable!” + +She opened her mouth as if to cry out. The Sheriff threw up both hands. + +“Mary, please--For kingdom's sake, don't! What unreasonable creatures +women are!” + +“You 'd better let women alone. One is as much as you can manage now.” + She spoke witheringly. “I give you one more chance.” + +“More than I can manage. You know Dick will get drunk----” + +“Not unless you make him. Who was drunk at that barbecue at Jones's +Cross Roads last summer!” + +“Oh, Mary!” + +“Who set up till after Sunday mornin' playin' kyards--. Yes, _gamblin'_ +the last night of last County Cote!” + +“Oh, Mary!--All right. I lay down my hand.” + +She drew paper and pencil from her little bag and held them out to him. + +“Write it down.” + +“Ain't my word good enough!” + +“If you mean to do it, why are you afraid to write it!” + +“I 'm not afraid.” + +“Then write it.” She held the paper to him with outstretched arm. + +“What shall I write!” + +“Write what I say: 'I Aleck Thompson, promise and bind myself if I +remain in office for another term to appoint my _dear_ friend, Dick +Creel'--underscore that--'my first deputy, and to keep him in as long as +he keeps sober and attends to his business.' Now sign it.” + +“What consideration do I get for this!” Thompson looked up from the +paper at her ca-jolingly. She met his gaze with a little flash. + +“Oh! I forgot the consideration,” she murmured, “and I Squire Jefford's +daughter, too! + +“Write: 'The consideration for the above is the love I bear the +aforesaid Richard Creel, and the fear I have that his wife will tell the +Judge what a smart Aleck I am.'” + +“Mary, you don't want me to write that!” + +“Them very words. I little more forgot the consideration.” + +The paper was written. + +She glanced out of the window. + +“Now I want a witness. I see the court is broken up.” + +“Tain't necessary.” + +“I want a witness, and I 'm goin' to _have_ him.” + +“Who!” + +“The Judge.” + +“Look here, Mary----” + +“I 'm goin' to have him. You come and introduce me.” + +“Mary, are you after all goin' to----” + +She met his gaze frankly. + +“No--unless you go back on me. If you do, I 'll tell him and show him +the paper; and what 's more, I 'll show it all around this county.” + +A flash of genuine admiration sprang into the Sheriff's eyes. + +“Mary, you ought to have been a man, or--Mrs. Aleck Thompson.” + +The paper was signed and witnessed. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Sheriffs Bluff, by Thomas Nelson Page + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SHERIFFS BLUFF *** + +***** This file should be named 23510-0.txt or 23510-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/5/1/23510/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/23510-0.zip b/23510-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..eb31c59 --- /dev/null +++ b/23510-0.zip diff --git a/23510-8.txt b/23510-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3c50a39 --- /dev/null +++ b/23510-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1185 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sheriffs Bluff, by Thomas Nelson Page + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Sheriffs Bluff + 1908 + +Author: Thomas Nelson Page + +Release Date: November 16, 2007 [EBook #23510] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SHERIFFS BLUFF *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + +THE SHERIFFS BLUFF + +By Thomas Nelson Page + +Charles Scribner's Sons New York, 1908 + +Copyright, 1891, 1904, 1906 + + + + +I + +The county of H------ was an old Colonial county, and even as late as +the time of my story contained many Colonial relics. Among them were the +court-house and the jail, and, at that time, the Judge and the Sheriff. + +The court-house was an old brick edifice of solemn and grayish brown, +with a portico whose mighty columns might have stood before a temple +of Minerva overlooking the gean Sea. With its thick walls and massive +barred windows, it might have been thought the jail, until one saw the +jail. The jail once seen stood alone. A cube of stone, each block huge +enough to have come from the Pyramid of Cheops; the windows, or rather +the apertures, were small square openings, crossed and recrossed +with great bars of wrought iron, so massive that they might have been +fashioned on the forge of the Cyclops. Looking through them from the +outside, one saw just deep enough into the narrow cavern to see another +iron grating, and catch a suspicion of the darkness beyond. The entrance +was but a slit letting into a stone-paved corridor on which opened the +grinding iron doors of the four small cells, each door a grate of huge +iron bars, heavily crossed, with openings just large enough to admit +a hand. The jail was built, not to meet the sentimental or any other +requirements of a reasonable and humane age, but in that hard time when +crime was reckoned crime, when the very names of "gaol" and "prison" +stood for something clear and unmistakable. + +The Judge of the circuit was himself a relic of the past, for his youth +had been cast among those great ones of the earth whose memory had come +down coupled with deeds so heroic and far-reaching, that even to the +next generation the actors appeared half enveloped and magnified in the +halo of tradition. His life had been one of high rectitude and dignity, +to which habits of unusual studiousness and a great work on Executors +had added a reputation for vast learning, and in his old age both in his +manner and his habit he preserved a distance and a dignity of demeanor +which lent dignity to the Bar, and surrounded him wherever he went +with a feeling akin to awe. Though he had given up the queue and short +clothes, he still retained ruffles, or what was so closely akin to them +that the difference could scarcely be discerned. Tall, grave, and with a +little bend, not in the shoulders but in the neck; with white hair just +long enough to be brushed behind in a way to suggest the knot which +had once appeared at the back; with calm, quiet eyes under bushy white +eyebrows; a face of pinkish red inherited from Saxon ancestors, who once +lived in the sun and on the brine, and a mouth and chin which bespoke +decision and self-respect in every line and wrinkle, wherever he moved +he produced an impression of one who had survived from a preceding age. +Moreover, he was a man of heroic ideals, of Spartan simplicity, and of +inflexible discipline. + +If he had a weakness it was his susceptibility to feminine testimony. + +The county was a secluded one--a fitting field for such a judge. And the +great meetings of the year were the sessions of the Circuit Court. + +The Judge's name was then on every lip, and his passage to the +court-house was a procession. + +Everyone except those unfortunates who had come under his ban, or might +be too far gone in drink to venture into his presence, drew up along +the path from the tavern to bow to him and receive his courteous bow in +return as he passed with slow and thoughtful step along, preceded by the +Sheriff and his deputies, and followed by the Bar and "the multitude." + +Whenever he entered the court or rose from the bench the lawyers stood. + +If he was impressive off the bench, on the bench he was imposing. + +At heart one of the kindest of men, he added to great natural dignity a +high sense of the loft-iness of a position on the bench and preserved, +with impartial and inflexible rigor, the strictest order in his court, +ruling bar and attendants alike up to a high accountability. + +No one would any more have thought of taking a liberty with Judge Lomax +than he would have done it with an old lion. Just one man, possibly, +might have thought of it, but he would not have done it--and this was +Aleck Thompson, the Sheriff of the county, a jovial man past middle age, +a rubicund bachelor, who had courted half the girls in the county and +was intimate with more than half the people in the circuit. He was +daring even to rashness. He had held the office of Sheriff--not so long, +perhaps, as the Judge had sat on the bench, but, at least, since he +first stood for the place; and he could hold it as long as he wished it. +He was easily the most popular man in the county. He treated everybody +with unvarying joviality and indiscriminate generosity, and it was known +that his income, though large, was, except so much as was absolutely +necessary for his support, distributed with impartial fairness among the +people of his county, a part over the poker-table, a part over the bar, +and the balance in other popular ways. He had a face that no one could +read, and bluffed as well with a pair of treys as with four aces. But +he used to say that such a bluff was to be used rarely, and only on +important occasions. + +Now and then some opposition to him would arise and a small headway +would be made against him. As, for instance, after he advised Squire +Jefford's plump and comely daughter, Mary, not to marry Dick Creel, +because Dick was too dissipated. There were some who said that the +Sheriff had designs himself on Sam Jefford's buxom, black-eyed daughter, +while others held that he was afraid of young Dick, who was an amiable +and popular young fellow, and that he did not want him to get too much +influence in the lower end of the county. However it was, Mary Jefford +not only married her young lover, but sobered him, and as she was young, +pretty, and ambitious, and worshipped her husband, Dick Creel at the +next election, to use the vernacular, "made cornsideruble show runnin' +ag'inst the Sheriff, and give him cornsideruble trouble." Still, +Thompson was elected overwhelmingly, and few people believed Mary +Creel's charge that the Sheriff had got Dick drunk on purpose to beat +him. Thompson said, "Did n't anybody have to _git_ Dick drunk--the work +was t'other way." + + + + +II + +The session of the Circuit Court in the "------ year of the +Commonwealth," as the writs ran, and "in the sixteenth year of Aleck +Thompson's Sheriffalty," as that official used to say, was more than +usually important. The noted case of "_Dolittle et al. vs. Dolittle's +Executrix_" was tried at the autumn term of the court, and caused +considerable excitement in the county; for, in addition to the amount +of property and the nice questions of law which were involved, the two +sides had been severally espoused by two sister churches, and nearly +half the county was in attendance, either as witnesses or interested +spectators. Not only was every available corner in the little village +filled to overflowing with parties, witnesses, and their adherents, but +during the first week of the term the stable yards and road-sides were +lined with covered wagons and other vehicles, in or under which some +of those who had not been fortunate enough to obtain shelter in the +inn used to sleep, and "Briles's bar" under the tavern did a thriving +business. + +As the case, however, wore on, and the weather became inclement, the +crowd dropped off somewhat, though a sufficient number still remained to +give an air of life to the little roadside village. + +Certain of these visitors found the bar-room on the ground floor of +the tavern across the road more attractive than the court-room, and as +evening came the loud talking in that direction told that the visits had +not been fruitless. + +Perfect order, however, prevailed in the court, until one evening one +of these visitors, a young man named Turkle, who had been spending the +afternoon at the bar, made his way into the court-room. He was clad in +a dingy, weather-stained overcoat and an old slouch hat. He sank into +a seat at the end of a bench near the door and, being very drunk, soon +began to talk aloud to those about him. + +"Silence!" called the Sheriff over the heads of the crowd from his desk +in front, and those near the man cautioned him to stop talking. A moment +later, however, he began again. Again the Sheriff roared "Silence!" But +by this time the hot air of the court-room had warmed up Mr. Turkle, and +in answer to the warning of those about him, he declared in a maudlin +tone, that he "Warn't goin' to keep silence." + +"I got 's much right to talk 's anyone, and I'ma goin' to talk 's much +'s I please." + +His friends tried to silence him, and the Sheriff made his way through +the crowd and endeavored to induce him to leave the court-room. But it +was to no purpose. Jim Turkle was much too "far gone" to know what he +was doing, though he was in a delightfully good humor. He merely hugged +the Sheriff and laughed drunkenly. + +"Aleck, you jist go 'way f'om here. I ain't a-goin' to shet up. You shet +up yourself. I 'm a-goin' to talk all I please. Now, you hear it." + +Then as if to atone for his rudeness, he caught the Sheriff roughly by +the arm and pulled him toward him: + +"Aleck, how 's the case goin'? Is Mandy a goin' to win? Is that old +rascal rulin' right!" + +The Sheriff urged something in a low voice, but Turkle would not be +silenced. + +"Now you see thar," he broke out with a laugh to those about him, "did +n't I tell you Aleck wa' n 't nothin' but a' ol' drunkard? What d' +you s'pose the ol' rascal wants me to do? He wants me to go over there +to the bar and git drunk like 'im, and I ain't goin' to do it. I never +drink. I 've come here to see that my cousin Mandy's chil'ern gits +their patrimony, and I ain' a goin' to 'sociate with these here drunken +fellows like Aleck Thompson." + +The Sheriff made a final effort. He spoke positively, but Turkle would +not heed. + +"Oh, 'Judge' be damned! You and I know that ol' fellow loves a dram jest +'s well 's the best of 'em--jest 's well 's you do. Look at his face. +You think he got that drinkin' well-water! Bet yer he 's got a bottle in +'s pocket right now." + +A titter ran through the crowd, but was suddenly stopped. + +A quiet voice was heard from the other end of the court-room, and a +deathly silence fell on the assemblage. + +"Suspend for a moment, gentlemen, if you please. Mr. Sheriff, bring that +person to the bar of the Court." + +The crowd parted as if by magic, and the Sheriff led his drunken +constituent to the bar, where his befuddled brain took in just enough of +the situation to make him quiet enough. The Judge bent his sternest look +on him until he quailed. + +"Have you no more sense of propriety than to disturb a court of justice +in the exercise of its high function?" + +Turkle, however, was too drunk to understand this. He tried to steady +himself against the bar. + +"I ain't is-turbed no Court of function, and anybody 't says so, Jedge, +iz a liar." He dragged his hand across his mouth and tried to look +around upon the crowd with an air of drunken triumph, but he staggered +and would have fallen had not the Sheriff caught and supported him. + +The Judge's eyes had never left him. + +"Mr. Sheriff, take this intoxicated creature and confine him in the +county gaol until the expiration of the term. The very existence of a +court of justice depends upon the observance of order. Order must be +preserved and the dignity of the Court maintained." + +There was a stir--half of horror--throughout the court-room. Put a man +in that jail just for being tight! + +Then the Sheriff on one side and his deputy on the other, led the +culprit out, now sufficiently quiet and half whimpering. A considerable +portion of the crowd followed him. + +Outside, the prisoner was sober enough, and he begged hard to be let +off and allowed to go home. His friends, too, joined in his petition and +promised to guarantee that he would not come back again during the term +of court. But the Sheriff was firm. + +"No. The Judge told me to put you in jail and I 'm goin' to do it." He +took two huge iron keys from his deputy and rattled them fiercely. + +Turkle shrank back with horror. + +"You ain't goin' to put me in thar, Aleck! Not in that hole! Not just +for a little drop o' whiskey. It was _your_ whiskey, too, Aleck. I was +drinkin' yo' health, Aleck. You know I was." + +"The Judge won't know anything about it. He 'll never think of it +again," pleaded several of Turkle's friends. "You know he has ordered a +drunken man put there before and never said any more about it--just told +you to discharge him next day." + +Turkle stiffened up with hope. + +"Yes, Aleck." He leaned on the Sheriff's arm heavily. "He 's drunk +himself--I don't mean that, I mean _you 're_ drunk--oh, no--I mean _I'm_ +drunk. Everybody 's drunk." + +"Yes, you 've gone and called me a drunkard before the Court. Now I 'm +goin' to show you." Thompson rattled his big keys again savagely. + +Turkle caught him with both hands. + +"Oh, Aleck, don't talk that a-way," he pleaded in a tremulous voice. +"Don't talk that a-way!" He burst into tears and flung his arms around +the Sheriff's neck. He protested that he had never, seen him take a +drink in his life; he would go and tell the Judge so; if necessary, he +would swear to it on a Bible. + +"Aleck, you know I love you better than anybody in this world--except my +wife and children. Yes, better than them--better than Jinny. Jinny will +tell you that herself. Oh! Aleck!" He clung to him and sobbed! + +His friends indorsed this and declared that they would bring him back if +the Judge demanded his presence. They would "promise to bring him back +dead or alive at any time he sent for him." + +As Turkle and his friends were always warm supporters of the Sheriff, a +fact of which they did not fail to remind him, Thompson was not averse +to letting him off, especially as he felt tolerably sure that the Judge +would, as they said, forget all about the matter, or, if he remembered +it, would, as he had done before, simply order him to discharge the +prisoner. So, after dragging the culprit to the jail door to scare him +well and make his clemency the more impressive, he turned him over to +the others on condition that he would mount his mule and go straight +home and not come back again during the term. This Turkle was so glad to +do that he struck out at once for the stable at what Thompson called a +"turkey trot," and five minutes later he was galloping down the road, +swinging mightily on his sorrel mule, but whipping for life. + +That night Thompson was much toasted about the court-house for his +humanity. Several of his admirers, indeed, got into somewhat the same +condition that Turkle had been in. + +Even Dick Creel, who had come to court that day, lapsed from virtue and +fell a victim to the general hilarity. + + + + +III + +The next morning when court was opened, the Judge was even more than +usually dignified and formal. The customary routine of the morning +was gone through with; the orders of the day before were read and +were signed by the Judge with more than wonted solemnity. The Clerk, a +benignant-looking old man with a red face and a white beard, took up his +book and adjusted his glasses to call the pending docket: the case of +"_Dolittle vs. Dolittle's Ex'ex._," and the array of counsel drew their +chairs up to the bar and prepared for the work of the day, when the +Judge, taking off his spectacles, turned to the Sheriff's desk. + +"Mr. Sheriff, bring in that unfortunate inebriate whom I sentenced to +confinement in the gaol yesterday. The Court, while sensible of the +imperative necessity of protecting itself from all unseemly disorder and +preserving its dignity undiminished, nevertheless always leans to the +side of mercy. The Court trusts that a night's incarceration may have +sufficiently sobered and chastened the poor creature. The Court will +therefore give him a brief admonition and will then discharge him." + +The Judge sat back in his large arm-chair and waited benignantly with +his gaze resting placidly in front of him, while a deathly silence fell +on the crowd and every eye in the courthouse was turned on the Sheriff. + +Thompson, standing at his desk, was staring at the Judge with jaw +dropped and a dazed look like a man who had suddenly to face judgment. +He opened his lips twice as if to speak, then turned and went slowly out +of the court-house like a man in a dream, while those left behind looked +in each other's eyes, some half scared and others more than half amused. + +Outside, Thompson stopped just between two of the great pillars. +He rammed his hands deep in his pockets and gazed vacantly over the +court-green and up the road. + +"What will he do with you! Remove you!" asked two or three friends who +had slipped out of the door behind him and now stood about him. + +"He 'll put me in jail--_and_ remove me." + +***** + +"No matter if he says black 's white and white 's black, don't you open +your mouth or you 'll get it. It 's much as I can do to keep you out of +jail this minute." + +"But, Sheriff--! But, Aleck--! Just wait a minute! I don't----" + +The next instant he was inside the courthouse and the Sheriff was +marching him up the aisle between the upturned faces. He planted him at +the bar immediately before the Court, pulling off his hat in such a way +as to drag his hair over his face and give him an even more dishevelled +appearance than before. Then he moved around to his own desk, keeping +his eye fixed piercingly on the astonished Creel's bewildered face. A +gasp went over the court-room, and the Bar stared at the prisoner in +blank amazement. + +The Judge alone appeared oblivious of his presence. He had sat +absolutely silent and motionless since he had given the order to the +Sheriff to produce the prisoner, his face expressive of deep reflection. +Now he withdrew his eye from the ceiling. + +"Oh!" + +With impressive deliberation he put on his large gold-rimmed spectacles; +sat up in his chair; assumed his most judicial expression, which sat +curiously on his benignant face, and looked severely down upon the +culprit. The court-room shivered and Thompson's round face grew +perceptibly whiter; but his eyes, after a single glance darted at the +Judge, never left the face of the man at the bar. + +The next second the Judge began to speak, and Thompson, and the +court-room with him, heaved a deep sigh of relief. + +"Young man," said the Judge, "you have committed an act of grievous +impropriety. You have been guilty of one of the most reprehensible +offences that any citizen of a Commonwealth founded upon order and +justice could commit, an act of such flagrant culpability that the +Court, in the maintenance of its dignity and in the interest of the +Commonwealth found it necessary to visit upon you punishment of great +severity and incarcerate you in the gaol usually reserved for the most +depraved malefactors. Intemperance is one of the most debasing of +vices. It impairs the intellect and undermines the constitution. To +the inhibition of Holy Writ is added the cumulative if inferential +prohibition of the Law, which declines to consider inebriety, though +extreme enough in degree to impair if not destroy the reasoning faculty, +in mitigation of crime of the highest---- dignity. If you had no beloved +family to whom your conduct would be an affliction, yet you have a duty +to yourself and to the Commonwealth which you have flagrantly violated. +To shocking inebriety you added the even grosser misdemeanor of +disturbing a Court in the exercise of its supreme function: the calm, +orderly, and deliberate administration of justice between the citizens +of the Commonwealth." + +"But, Judge--?" began the young man. + +A sharp cough from the Sheriff interrupted him and he glanced at the +Sheriff to meet a menacing shake of the head. + +The strangeness of the scene and the impressive solemnity of the Judge +so wrought upon the young man that he began to whimper. He looked at the +Judge and once more opened his mouth to speak, but the Sheriff, called, +sharply: + +"Silence!" + +Creel glanced appealingly from the Judge to the Sheriff, only to meet +another imperative shake of the latter's head and a warning scowl. Then +the Judge proceeded, in a tone that showed that he was not insensible to +his altered manner. + +"The Court, always mindful of that mercy whose quality 'is not strained, +but droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath,' +trusts that your recent incarceration, though brief, may prove adequate +to the exigencies of the occasion. It hopes that the incarceration +of one night in the common gaol may prove in case of a young man like +yourself sufficiently efficacious to deter you from the repetition of +so grave a misdemeanor, and at the same time not crush too much that +generous spirit of youth which in its proper exercise may prove so +advantageous to its possessor, and redound so much to the benefit of +the Commonwealth. The order of the Court, therefore, is that the Sheriff +discharge you from further imprisonment. + +"Mr. Sheriff, conduct the young man to the door, caution him against a +recurrence of his offence, and direct him toward his home. + +"We will now proceed to call the docket." + +The court-room with another gasp broke into a buzz, which was instantly +quelled by the sharp command of the Sheriff for silence and order in the +court. + +"But, Judge--" began Creel again, "I don't understand--" + +What he did not understand was not heard, for Thompson seized the +prisoner before he could finish his sentence, and, with a grip of steel +on his arm, hustled him down the aisle and out of the court-room. + +A good many persons poured out of the court-room after them and with +subdued laughter followed the Sheriff and his charge across the green. +Thompson, however, did not wait for them. The young man appeared +inclined to argue. But the Sheriff gave him no time. Hurrying him down +the walk, he unhitched his horse for him and ordered him to mount. + +"But, Sheriff--Mr. Thompson, I 'm darned if I understand what it is all +about." + +"You were drunk," said Thompson--"flagrantly inebriated. Go home. Did +n't you hear the Judge?" + +"Yes, I heard him. He 's doty. I might have been drunk, but I 'm darned +if I slept in jail last night--I slept in----" + +"I 'm darned if you did n't," said the Sheriff. "The Judge has ruled +it so, and so you did. Now go home and don't you come back here again +during this term, or you will sleep in jail again." + +"That old Judge is doty," declared the young man with a tone of +conviction. + +"So much the worse for you if you come back here. Go home now, just as +quick as you can." + +Creel reflected for a moment. + +"Well, it beats my time. I 'll tell you what I 'll do, Mr. Thompson," he +said, half pleadingly. "I 'll go home and stay there if you will promise +not to tell my wife I was in jail." + +"I promise you," said Aleck, solemnly. "I give you my word I won't." + +"And what 's more," continued Creel, "if you 'll keep anybody else from +doing it, I 'll vote for you next time for Sheriff." + +"I promise you that, too," said Aleck, "and if anybody says you were +there, let me know, and I 'll come up there and--and tell her you were +n't. I can't do any more than that, can I?" + +"No, you can't do any more than that," admitted Creel, sadly, and, +leaning over and shaking hands with the Sheriff cordially for the first +time in some years, he rode away in profound dejection. + +"Well, I 've got to face Mary," he said, "and I reckon I might as well +do it. Whiskey is a queer thing. I must have been a lot drunker than I +thought I was, because if the Court had n't ruled it, I would have sworn +I slept in that there wing room last night." + +"Well, that 's the best bluff I ever put up," said Thompson to the +throng about him as he turned back to the court-house. + +The Sheriff's bluff became the topic of the rest of the term. Such +audacity, such resourcefulness had never been known. Thompson became +more popular than ever, and his re-election the following spring was +admitted to be certain. + +"That Aleck Thompson 's the smartest man that is," declared one of his +delighted adherents. + +Thompson himself thought so, too, and his imitation of the Judge, of +Dick Creel, and of himself in court became his most popular story. + +Only the old Judge moved among the throng of tittering laymen calm, +dignified, and unsuspecting. + +"If ever he gets hold of you, Aleck," said one of that worthy's +worshippers, "there 's likely to be a vacancy in the office of sheriff." + +"He 'll put me in jail," laughed Aleck. "Dick Creel says he 's kind o' +doty." + + + + +IV + +The Court was nearing the end of the term, _Dolittle et al. vs. +Dolittle's Executrix_, with all its witnesses and all its bitternesses, +had resulted in a mistrial, and the sister churches were wider apart +than ever. The rest of the docket was being daily disposed of. + +The Sheriff was busy one day telling his story to an admiring throng on +the court-green when someone casually observed that Mrs. Dick Creel had +got off the train that morning. + +The Sheriff's face changed a little. + +"Where is she!" + +"Waitin' in the tavern parlor." + +"What is she doing here! What is she doing in there!" + +"Jest a settin' and a waitin'." + +"I 'spect she is waitin' for you, Aleck!" hazarded one of his friends. + +There was a burst of laughter, for Squire Jefford's daughter, Mary, was +known to be "a woman of her own head." + +The Sheriff laughed, too; but his laughter was not as mirthful as usual. +He made an ineffectual attempt to keep up his jollity. + +"I reckon I 'll go and see Mary," he said at length. + +He left the group with affected cheerfulness, but his heart was heavier +than he liked to admit. He made his way to the "ladies' parlor," as +the little sitting-room in the south wing of the rambling old tavern, +overlooking the court-green was called, and opened the door. + +On one side of the wood fire, in a stiff, high-backed chair sat a young +woman, in her hat and wrap and gloves, "jest a settin' and a waitin'." +She was a well-made and comely young woman under thirty, with a ruddy +face, smooth hair and bright eyes that the Sheriff knew could both smile +and snap. Her head was well set on rather plump shoulders; her mouth was +well formed, but was now close drawn, and her chin was strong enough to +show firmness--too much firmness, as Thompson mentally decided when he +caught its profile. + +The Sheriff advanced with an amiable smile. He was so surprised. + +"Why, you here, Mary! When did you come?" His tone was affable and even +testified pleasure. But Mary did not unbend. She was as stiff as the +chair she sat in. Without turning her head she turned her eyes and +looked at him sideways. + +"_Mrs. Creel_." + +There was a glint in her black eyes that meant war, and Thompson's +countenance fell. + +"Ah-ur-Mrs. Creel." + +"I did n't know as you 'd know me!" She spoke quietly, her eyes still on +him sidewise. + +"Not know you! Why, of course, I know you. I don't forget the pretty +girls--leastways, the prettiest girl in the county. Your father and +I------" + +"I heard you made a mistake about my husband and Jim Turkle. I thought +maybe you might think I was _Mrs_. Turkle." + +There was the least perceptible lifting of her shoulders and drawing +down of her mouth, but quite enough to suggest Jenny Turkle 's high +shoulders and grim face. + +The Sheriff tried to lighten the conversation. + +"Oh! Come now, Mary, you must n't get mad about that. It was all a joke. +I was comin' right up after court adjourned to tell you about it--and--. +It was the funniest thing! You 'd 'a' died laughing if you 'd been here +and seen----" + +"I heard they was all laughin' about it. _I_ ain't so easy to amuse." + +"Oh! Yes, you would, too," began Thompson, cajolingly. "If you 'd +seen----" + +"What time does Court adjourn!" she asked, quietly and irrelevantly, + +"Oh, not for two or three--not for _several_ days yet--Probably 't will +hold over till well into next week. But if you 'd seen----" + +"I mean what time does it let out _to-day?_" + +Thompson's face fell again. + +"Why--ah--about--ah--Why! What do you want to know for!" + +"I want to see the Judge." Her voice was dead level. + +"What about!" + +"About business!" + +"What business!" + +"_Co'te_ business," with cold irony. + +"You don't mean that you 're goin' to----!" + +He paused without framing the rest of the question. + +She suddenly stood up and flamed out. + +"Yes, I am--that 's just what I am goin' to do. That 's what I 've come +here for. You may take a liberty with the Judge--he 's doty; but you +can't take a liberty with _me_--I 'm Squire Jefford's daughter, and I 'm +goin' to show you." + +She was facing him now, and her black eyes were darting fire. Thompson +was quite staggered. + +"Why, Mary! I am surprised at you. Your father's old friend--who has had +you on his knee many a time. I am shocked and surprised--and mortified +and--astonished--and mortified----" + +"You 've done said that one once," she said, icily. + +"Why, Mary, I thought we were friends--" he began. But she cut in on +him. + +"Friends!" She spoke with contempt. "You 've had it in for Dick ever +since he was a boy." Her voice suddenly broke and the tears sprang to +her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. + +"Why, Mary--no such thing--I assure you--Dick and I are the best of +friends--_dear_ friends." + +Her sniff was more forcible than words. She wiped her eyes and looked at +him with freezing contempt. + +"I 'm a fool! And I don't want you to be _Mary_-in' me, either. If Dick +chooses to let you get him drunk and make a beast and a fool of him and +drag him up before the Court like a--a--like that drunkard, Jim Turkle, +what don't know how to behave himself seemly in Court, and Circuit Court +at that--he may; but I 'll let you know, _I'm_ not goin' to do it. I +don't mean the Judge to think my husband's a thing like that. I mean to +set him right. And I 'll tell him you are nothing but an old gambler who +spends your time ruinin' young men, and braggin' as how you can bluff +anybody." + +"Mary!--ur--Mrs. Creel!" gasped the Sheriff. + +She stalked by him wiping her eyes, and marched straight to the door; +but the Sheriff was too quick for her. His office, his reputation, +everything hung on his pacifying her. He sprang to the door and, +standing with his back against it, began to apologize in so humble a +tone that even the angry wife could not but listen to him. + +He said everything that any mortal could have said, and declared that he +would do anything on earth that she might ask. + +She reflected, and he began to hope again. When their eyes met, hers +were still hard, but they were calmer. + +"I know you think you are making a fool of me," she began, and then as +he protested she shut him up with a sharp gesture. + +"Yes, you do, you think so; but you are not. There is but one thing I +will accept in apology." + +"What is that!" + +"You are to make Dick your deputy." + +"But, M----" + +"I knew you would n't. Stand aside." She gave a sweep of the arm. + +"But, Mary!" + +"Stand aside, I say--I 'd rather have you removed anyway." + +"But, Mary, just listen----" + +"Stand aside, or I will call." She straightened herself and looked past +him, as if listening. + +"But, Mary, do be reasonable!" + +She opened her mouth as if to cry out. The Sheriff threw up both hands. + +"Mary, please--For kingdom's sake, don't! What unreasonable creatures +women are!" + +"You 'd better let women alone. One is as much as you can manage now." +She spoke witheringly. "I give you one more chance." + +"More than I can manage. You know Dick will get drunk----" + +"Not unless you make him. Who was drunk at that barbecue at Jones's +Cross Roads last summer!" + +"Oh, Mary!" + +"Who set up till after Sunday mornin' playin' kyards--. Yes, _gamblin'_ +the last night of last County Cote!" + +"Oh, Mary!--All right. I lay down my hand." + +She drew paper and pencil from her little bag and held them out to him. + +"Write it down." + +"Ain't my word good enough!" + +"If you mean to do it, why are you afraid to write it!" + +"I 'm not afraid." + +"Then write it." She held the paper to him with outstretched arm. + +"What shall I write!" + +"Write what I say: 'I Aleck Thompson, promise and bind myself if I +remain in office for another term to appoint my _dear_ friend, Dick +Creel'--underscore that--'my first deputy, and to keep him in as long as +he keeps sober and attends to his business.' Now sign it." + +"What consideration do I get for this!" Thompson looked up from the +paper at her ca-jolingly. She met his gaze with a little flash. + +"Oh! I forgot the consideration," she murmured, "and I Squire Jefford's +daughter, too! + +"Write: 'The consideration for the above is the love I bear the +aforesaid Richard Creel, and the fear I have that his wife will tell the +Judge what a smart Aleck I am.'" + +"Mary, you don't want me to write that!" + +"Them very words. I little more forgot the consideration." + +The paper was written. + +She glanced out of the window. + +"Now I want a witness. I see the court is broken up." + +"Tain't necessary." + +"I want a witness, and I 'm goin' to _have_ him." + +"Who!" + +"The Judge." + +"Look here, Mary----" + +"I 'm goin' to have him. You come and introduce me." + +"Mary, are you after all goin' to----" + +She met his gaze frankly. + +"No--unless you go back on me. If you do, I 'll tell him and show him +the paper; and what 's more, I 'll show it all around this county." + +A flash of genuine admiration sprang into the Sheriff's eyes. + +"Mary, you ought to have been a man, or--Mrs. Aleck Thompson." + +The paper was signed and witnessed. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Sheriffs Bluff, by Thomas Nelson Page + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SHERIFFS BLUFF *** + +***** This file should be named 23510-8.txt or 23510-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/5/1/23510/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Sheriffs Bluff + 1908 + +Author: Thomas Nelson Page + +Release Date: November 16, 2007 [EBook #23510] +Last Updated: March 8, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SHERIFFS BLUFF *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + THE SHERIFFS BLUFF + </h1> + <h2> + By Thomas Nelson Page <br /> <br /> Charles Scribner's Sons New York, 1908 + <br /><br /> Copyright, 1801, 1904, 1906 + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> I </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> II </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> III </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> IV </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + I + </h2> + <p> + The county of H——— was an old Colonial county, and even + as late as the time of my story contained many Colonial relics. Among them + were the court-house and the jail, and, at that time, the Judge and the + Sheriff. + </p> + <p> + The court-house was an old brick edifice of solemn and grayish brown, with + a portico whose mighty columns might have stood before a temple of Minerva + overlooking the Ægean Sea. With its thick walls and massive barred + windows, it might have been thought the jail, until one saw the jail. The + jail once seen stood alone. A cube of stone, each block huge enough to + have come from the Pyramid of Cheops; the windows, or rather the + apertures, were small square openings, crossed and recrossed with great + bars of wrought iron, so massive that they might have been fashioned on + the forge of the Cyclops. Looking through them from the outside, one saw + just deep enough into the narrow cavern to see another iron grating, and + catch a suspicion of the darkness beyond. The entrance was but a slit + letting into a stone-paved corridor on which opened the grinding iron + doors of the four small cells, each door a grate of huge iron bars, + heavily crossed, with openings just large enough to admit a hand. The jail + was built, not to meet the sentimental or any other requirements of a + reasonable and humane age, but in that hard time when crime was reckoned + crime, when the very names of “gaol” and “prison” stood for something + clear and unmistakable. + </p> + <p> + The Judge of the circuit was himself a relic of the past, for his youth + had been cast among those great ones of the earth whose memory had come + down coupled with deeds so heroic and far-reaching, that even to the next + generation the actors appeared half enveloped and magnified in the halo of + tradition. His life had been one of high rectitude and dignity, to which + habits of unusual studiousness and a great work on Executors had added a + reputation for vast learning, and in his old age both in his manner and + his habit he preserved a distance and a dignity of demeanor which lent + dignity to the Bar, and surrounded him wherever he went with a feeling + akin to awe. Though he had given up the queue and short clothes, he still + retained ruffles, or what was so closely akin to them that the difference + could scarcely be discerned. Tall, grave, and with a little bend, not in + the shoulders but in the neck; with white hair just long enough to be + brushed behind in a way to suggest the knot which had once appeared at the + back; with calm, quiet eyes under bushy white eyebrows; a face of pinkish + red inherited from Saxon ancestors, who once lived in the sun and on the + brine, and a mouth and chin which bespoke decision and self-respect in + every line and wrinkle, wherever he moved he produced an impression of one + who had survived from a preceding age. Moreover, he was a man of heroic + ideals, of Spartan simplicity, and of inflexible discipline. + </p> + <p> + If he had a weakness it was his susceptibility to feminine testimony. + </p> + <p> + The county was a secluded one—a fitting field for such a judge. And + the great meetings of the year were the sessions of the Circuit Court. + </p> + <p> + The Judge's name was then on every lip, and his passage to the court-house + was a procession. + </p> + <p> + Everyone except those unfortunates who had come under his ban, or might be + too far gone in drink to venture into his presence, drew up along the path + from the tavern to bow to him and receive his courteous bow in return as + he passed with slow and thoughtful step along, preceded by the Sheriff and + his deputies, and followed by the Bar and “the multitude.” + </p> + <p> + Whenever he entered the court or rose from the bench the lawyers stood. + </p> + <p> + If he was impressive off the bench, on the bench he was imposing. + </p> + <p> + At heart one of the kindest of men, he added to great natural dignity a + high sense of the loft-iness of a position on the bench and preserved, + with impartial and inflexible rigor, the strictest order in his court, + ruling bar and attendants alike up to a high accountability. + </p> + <p> + No one would any more have thought of taking a liberty with Judge Lomax + than he would have done it with an old lion. Just one man, possibly, might + have thought of it, but he would not have done it—and this was Aleck + Thompson, the Sheriff of the county, a jovial man past middle age, a + rubicund bachelor, who had courted half the girls in the county and was + intimate with more than half the people in the circuit. He was daring even + to rashness. He had held the office of Sheriff—not so long, perhaps, + as the Judge had sat on the bench, but, at least, since he first stood for + the place; and he could hold it as long as he wished it. He was easily the + most popular man in the county. He treated everybody with unvarying + joviality and indiscriminate generosity, and it was known that his income, + though large, was, except so much as was absolutely necessary for his + support, distributed with impartial fairness among the people of his + county, a part over the poker-table, a part over the bar, and the balance + in other popular ways. He had a face that no one could read, and bluffed + as well with a pair of treys as with four aces. But he used to say that + such a bluff was to be used rarely, and only on important occasions. + </p> + <p> + Now and then some opposition to him would arise and a small headway would + be made against him. As, for instance, after he advised Squire Jefford's + plump and comely daughter, Mary, not to marry Dick Creel, because Dick was + too dissipated. There were some who said that the Sheriff had designs + himself on Sam Jefford's buxom, black-eyed daughter, while others held + that he was afraid of young Dick, who was an amiable and popular young + fellow, and that he did not want him to get too much influence in the + lower end of the county. However it was, Mary Jefford not only married her + young lover, but sobered him, and as she was young, pretty, and ambitious, + and worshipped her husband, Dick Creel at the next election, to use the + vernacular, “made cornsideruble show runnin' ag'inst the Sheriff, and give + him cornsideruble trouble.” Still, Thompson was elected overwhelmingly, + and few people believed Mary Creel's charge that the Sheriff had got Dick + drunk on purpose to beat him. Thompson said, “Did n't anybody have to <i>git</i> + Dick drunk—the work was t'other way.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II + </h2> + <p> + The session of the Circuit Court in the “——— year of the + Commonwealth,” as the writs ran, and “in the sixteenth year of Aleck + Thompson's Sheriffalty,” as that official used to say, was more than + usually important. The noted case of “<i>Dolittle et al. vs. Dolittle's + Executrix</i>” was tried at the autumn term of the court, and caused + considerable excitement in the county; for, in addition to the amount of + property and the nice questions of law which were involved, the two sides + had been severally espoused by two sister churches, and nearly half the + county was in attendance, either as witnesses or interested spectators. + Not only was every available corner in the little village filled to + overflowing with parties, witnesses, and their adherents, but during the + first week of the term the stable yards and road-sides were lined with + covered wagons and other vehicles, in or under which some of those who had + not been fortunate enough to obtain shelter in the inn used to sleep, and + “Briles's bar” under the tavern did a thriving business. + </p> + <p> + As the case, however, wore on, and the weather became inclement, the crowd + dropped off somewhat, though a sufficient number still remained to give an + air of life to the little roadside village. + </p> + <p> + Certain of these visitors found the bar-room on the ground floor of the + tavern across the road more attractive than the court-room, and as evening + came the loud talking in that direction told that the visits had not been + fruitless. + </p> + <p> + Perfect order, however, prevailed in the court, until one evening one of + these visitors, a young man named Turkle, who had been spending the + afternoon at the bar, made his way into the court-room. He was clad in a + dingy, weather-stained overcoat and an old slouch hat. He sank into a seat + at the end of a bench near the door and, being very drunk, soon began to + talk aloud to those about him. + </p> + <p> + “Silence!” called the Sheriff over the heads of the crowd from his desk in + front, and those near the man cautioned him to stop talking. A moment + later, however, he began again. Again the Sheriff roared “Silence!” But by + this time the hot air of the court-room had warmed up Mr. Turkle, and in + answer to the warning of those about him, he declared in a maudlin tone, + that he “Warn't goin' to keep silence.” + </p> + <p> + “I got 's much right to talk 's anyone, and I'ma goin' to talk 's much 's + I please.” + </p> + <p> + His friends tried to silence him, and the Sheriff made his way through the + crowd and endeavored to induce him to leave the court-room. But it was to + no purpose. Jim Turkle was much too “far gone” to know what he was doing, + though he was in a delightfully good humor. He merely hugged the Sheriff + and laughed drunkenly. + </p> + <p> + “Aleck, you jist go 'way f'om here. I ain't a-goin' to shet up. You shet + up yourself. I 'm a-goin' to talk all I please. Now, you hear it.” + </p> + <p> + Then as if to atone for his rudeness, he caught the Sheriff roughly by the + arm and pulled him toward him: + </p> + <p> + “Aleck, how 's the case goin'? Is Mandy a goin' to win? Is that old rascal + rulin' right!” + </p> + <p> + The Sheriff urged something in a low voice, but Turkle would not be + silenced. + </p> + <p> + “Now you see thar,” he broke out with a laugh to those about him, “did n't + I tell you Aleck wa' n 't nothin' but a' ol' drunkard? What d' you s'pose + the ol' rascal wants me to do? He wants me to go over there to the bar and + git drunk like 'im, and I ain't goin' to do it. I never drink. I 've come + here to see that my cousin Mandy's chil'ern gits their patrimony, and I + ain' a goin' to 'sociate with these here drunken fellows like Aleck + Thompson.” + </p> + <p> + The Sheriff made a final effort. He spoke positively, but Turkle would not + heed. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, 'Judge' be damned! You and I know that ol' fellow loves a dram jest + 's well 's the best of 'em—jest 's well 's you do. Look at his face. + You think he got that drinkin' well-water! Bet yer he 's got a bottle in + 's pocket right now.” + </p> + <p> + A titter ran through the crowd, but was suddenly stopped. + </p> + <p> + A quiet voice was heard from the other end of the court-room, and a + deathly silence fell on the assemblage. + </p> + <p> + “Suspend for a moment, gentlemen, if you please. Mr. Sheriff, bring that + person to the bar of the Court.” + </p> + <p> + The crowd parted as if by magic, and the Sheriff led his drunken + constituent to the bar, where his befuddled brain took in just enough of + the situation to make him quiet enough. The Judge bent his sternest look + on him until he quailed. + </p> + <p> + “Have you no more sense of propriety than to disturb a court of justice in + the exercise of its high function?” + </p> + <p> + Turkle, however, was too drunk to understand this. He tried to steady + himself against the bar. + </p> + <p> + “I ain't is-turbed no Court of function, and anybody 't says so, Jedge, iz + a liar.” He dragged his hand across his mouth and tried to look around + upon the crowd with an air of drunken triumph, but he staggered and would + have fallen had not the Sheriff caught and supported him. + </p> + <p> + The Judge's eyes had never left him. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Sheriff, take this intoxicated creature and confine him in the county + gaol until the expiration of the term. The very existence of a court of + justice depends upon the observance of order. Order must be preserved and + the dignity of the Court maintained.” + </p> + <p> + There was a stir—half of horror—throughout the court-room. Put + a man in that jail just for being tight! + </p> + <p> + Then the Sheriff on one side and his deputy on the other, led the culprit + out, now sufficiently quiet and half whimpering. A considerable portion of + the crowd followed him. + </p> + <p> + Outside, the prisoner was sober enough, and he begged hard to be let off + and allowed to go home. His friends, too, joined in his petition and + promised to guarantee that he would not come back again during the term of + court. But the Sheriff was firm. + </p> + <p> + “No. The Judge told me to put you in jail and I 'm goin' to do it.” He + took two huge iron keys from his deputy and rattled them fiercely. + </p> + <p> + Turkle shrank back with horror. + </p> + <p> + “You ain't goin' to put me in thar, Aleck! Not in that hole! Not just for + a little drop o' whiskey. It was <i>your</i> whiskey, too, Aleck. I was + drinkin' yo' health, Aleck. You know I was.” + </p> + <p> + “The Judge won't know anything about it. He 'll never think of it again,” + pleaded several of Turkle's friends. “You know he has ordered a drunken + man put there before and never said any more about it—just told you + to discharge him next day.” + </p> + <p> + Turkle stiffened up with hope. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, Aleck.” He leaned on the Sheriff's arm heavily. “He 's drunk himself—I + don't mean that, I mean <i>you 're</i> drunk—oh, no—I mean <i>I'm</i> + drunk. Everybody 's drunk.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, you 've gone and called me a drunkard before the Court. Now I 'm + goin' to show you.” Thompson rattled his big keys again savagely. + </p> + <p> + Turkle caught him with both hands. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Aleck, don't talk that a-way,” he pleaded in a tremulous voice. + “Don't talk that a-way!” He burst into tears and flung his arms around the + Sheriff's neck. He protested that he had never, seen him take a drink in + his life; he would go and tell the Judge so; if necessary, he would swear + to it on a Bible. + </p> + <p> + “Aleck, you know I love you better than anybody in this world—except + my wife and children. Yes, better than them—better than Jinny. Jinny + will tell you that herself. Oh! Aleck!” He clung to him and sobbed! + </p> + <p> + His friends indorsed this and declared that they would bring him back if + the Judge demanded his presence. They would “promise to bring him back + dead or alive at any time he sent for him.” + </p> + <p> + As Turkle and his friends were always warm supporters of the Sheriff, a + fact of which they did not fail to remind him, Thompson was not averse to + letting him off, especially as he felt tolerably sure that the Judge + would, as they said, forget all about the matter, or, if he remembered it, + would, as he had done before, simply order him to discharge the prisoner. + So, after dragging the culprit to the jail door to scare him well and make + his clemency the more impressive, he turned him over to the others on + condition that he would mount his mule and go straight home and not come + back again during the term. This Turkle was so glad to do that he struck + out at once for the stable at what Thompson called a “turkey trot,” and + five minutes later he was galloping down the road, swinging mightily on + his sorrel mule, but whipping for life. + </p> + <p> + That night Thompson was much toasted about the court-house for his + humanity. Several of his admirers, indeed, got into somewhat the same + condition that Turkle had been in. + </p> + <p> + Even Dick Creel, who had come to court that day, lapsed from virtue and + fell a victim to the general hilarity. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III + </h2> + <p> + The next morning when court was opened, the Judge was even more than + usually dignified and formal. The customary routine of the morning was + gone through with; the orders of the day before were read and were signed + by the Judge with more than wonted solemnity. The Clerk, a + benignant-looking old man with a red face and a white beard, took up his + book and adjusted his glasses to call the pending docket: the case of “<i>Dolittle + vs. Dolittle's Ex'ex.</i>,” and the array of counsel drew their chairs up + to the bar and prepared for the work of the day, when the Judge, taking + off his spectacles, turned to the Sheriff's desk. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Sheriff, bring in that unfortunate inebriate whom I sentenced to + confinement in the gaol yesterday. The Court, while sensible of the + imperative necessity of protecting itself from all unseemly disorder and + preserving its dignity undiminished, nevertheless always leans to the side + of mercy. The Court trusts that a night's incarceration may have + sufficiently sobered and chastened the poor creature. The Court will + therefore give him a brief admonition and will then discharge him.” + </p> + <p> + The Judge sat back in his large arm-chair and waited benignantly with his + gaze resting placidly in front of him, while a deathly silence fell on the + crowd and every eye in the courthouse was turned on the Sheriff. + </p> + <p> + Thompson, standing at his desk, was staring at the Judge with jaw dropped + and a dazed look like a man who had suddenly to face judgment. He opened + his lips twice as if to speak, then turned and went slowly out of the + court-house like a man in a dream, while those left behind looked in each + other's eyes, some half scared and others more than half amused. + </p> + <p> + Outside, Thompson stopped just between two of the great pillars. He rammed + his hands deep in his pockets and gazed vacantly over the court-green and + up the road. + </p> + <p> + “What will he do with you! Remove you!” asked two or three friends who had + slipped out of the door behind him and now stood about him. + </p> + <p> + “He 'll put me in jail—<i>and</i> remove me.” + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + “No matter if he says black 's white and white 's black, don't you open + your mouth or you 'll get it. It 's much as I can do to keep you out of + jail this minute.” + </p> + <p> + “But, Sheriff—! But, Aleck—! Just wait a minute! I don't——” + </p> + <p> + The next instant he was inside the courthouse and the Sheriff was marching + him up the aisle between the upturned faces. He planted him at the bar + immediately before the Court, pulling off his hat in such a way as to drag + his hair over his face and give him an even more dishevelled appearance + than before. Then he moved around to his own desk, keeping his eye fixed + piercingly on the astonished Creel's bewildered face. A gasp went over the + court-room, and the Bar stared at the prisoner in blank amazement. + </p> + <p> + The Judge alone appeared oblivious of his presence. He had sat absolutely + silent and motionless since he had given the order to the Sheriff to + produce the prisoner, his face expressive of deep reflection. Now he + withdrew his eye from the ceiling. + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” + </p> + <p> + With impressive deliberation he put on his large gold-rimmed spectacles; + sat up in his chair; assumed his most judicial expression, which sat + curiously on his benignant face, and looked severely down upon the + culprit. The court-room shivered and Thompson's round face grew + perceptibly whiter; but his eyes, after a single glance darted at the + Judge, never left the face of the man at the bar. + </p> + <p> + The next second the Judge began to speak, and Thompson, and the court-room + with him, heaved a deep sigh of relief. + </p> + <p> + “Young man,” said the Judge, “you have committed an act of grievous + impropriety. You have been guilty of one of the most reprehensible + offences that any citizen of a Commonwealth founded upon order and justice + could commit, an act of such flagrant culpability that the Court, in the + maintenance of its dignity and in the interest of the Commonwealth found + it necessary to visit upon you punishment of great severity and + incarcerate you in the gaol usually reserved for the most depraved + malefactors. Intemperance is one of the most debasing of vices. It impairs + the intellect and undermines the constitution. To the inhibition of Holy + Writ is added the cumulative if inferential prohibition of the Law, which + declines to consider inebriety, though extreme enough in degree to impair + if not destroy the reasoning faculty, in mitigation of crime of the + highest—— dignity. If you had no beloved family to whom your + conduct would be an affliction, yet you have a duty to yourself and to the + Commonwealth which you have flagrantly violated. To shocking inebriety you + added the even grosser misdemeanor of disturbing a Court in the exercise + of its supreme function: the calm, orderly, and deliberate administration + of justice between the citizens of the Commonwealth.” + </p> + <p> + “But, Judge—?” began the young man. + </p> + <p> + A sharp cough from the Sheriff interrupted him and he glanced at the + Sheriff to meet a menacing shake of the head. + </p> + <p> + The strangeness of the scene and the impressive solemnity of the Judge so + wrought upon the young man that he began to whimper. He looked at the + Judge and once more opened his mouth to speak, but the Sheriff, called, + sharply: + </p> + <p> + “Silence!” + </p> + <p> + Creel glanced appealingly from the Judge to the Sheriff, only to meet + another imperative shake of the latter's head and a warning scowl. Then + the Judge proceeded, in a tone that showed that he was not insensible to + his altered manner. + </p> + <p> + “The Court, always mindful of that mercy whose quality 'is not strained, + but droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath,' + trusts that your recent incarceration, though brief, may prove adequate to + the exigencies of the occasion. It hopes that the incarceration of one + night in the common gaol may prove in case of a young man like yourself + sufficiently efficacious to deter you from the repetition of so grave a + misdemeanor, and at the same time not crush too much that generous spirit + of youth which in its proper exercise may prove so advantageous to its + possessor, and redound so much to the benefit of the Commonwealth. The + order of the Court, therefore, is that the Sheriff discharge you from + further imprisonment. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Sheriff, conduct the young man to the door, caution him against a + recurrence of his offence, and direct him toward his home. + </p> + <p> + “We will now proceed to call the docket.” + </p> + <p> + The court-room with another gasp broke into a buzz, which was instantly + quelled by the sharp command of the Sheriff for silence and order in the + court. + </p> + <p> + “But, Judge—” began Creel again, “I don't understand—” + </p> + <p> + What he did not understand was not heard, for Thompson seized the prisoner + before he could finish his sentence, and, with a grip of steel on his arm, + hustled him down the aisle and out of the court-room. + </p> + <p> + A good many persons poured out of the court-room after them and with + subdued laughter followed the Sheriff and his charge across the green. + Thompson, however, did not wait for them. The young man appeared inclined + to argue. But the Sheriff gave him no time. Hurrying him down the walk, he + unhitched his horse for him and ordered him to mount. + </p> + <p> + “But, Sheriff—Mr. Thompson, I 'm darned if I understand what it is + all about.” + </p> + <p> + “You were drunk,” said Thompson—“flagrantly inebriated. Go home. Did + n't you hear the Judge?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I heard him. He 's doty. I might have been drunk, but I 'm darned if + I slept in jail last night—I slept in——” + </p> + <p> + “I 'm darned if you did n't,” said the Sheriff. “The Judge has ruled it + so, and so you did. Now go home and don't you come back here again during + this term, or you will sleep in jail again.” + </p> + <p> + “That old Judge is doty,” declared the young man with a tone of + conviction. + </p> + <p> + “So much the worse for you if you come back here. Go home now, just as + quick as you can.” + </p> + <p> + Creel reflected for a moment. + </p> + <p> + “Well, it beats my time. I 'll tell you what I 'll do, Mr. Thompson,” he + said, half pleadingly. “I 'll go home and stay there if you will promise + not to tell my wife I was in jail.” + </p> + <p> + “I promise you,” said Aleck, solemnly. “I give you my word I won't.” + </p> + <p> + “And what 's more,” continued Creel, “if you 'll keep anybody else from + doing it, I 'll vote for you next time for Sheriff.” + </p> + <p> + “I promise you that, too,” said Aleck, “and if anybody says you were + there, let me know, and I 'll come up there and—and tell her you + were n't. I can't do any more than that, can I?” + </p> + <p> + “No, you can't do any more than that,” admitted Creel, sadly, and, leaning + over and shaking hands with the Sheriff cordially for the first time in + some years, he rode away in profound dejection. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I 've got to face Mary,” he said, “and I reckon I might as well do + it. Whiskey is a queer thing. I must have been a lot drunker than I + thought I was, because if the Court had n't ruled it, I would have sworn I + slept in that there wing room last night.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, that 's the best bluff I ever put up,” said Thompson to the throng + about him as he turned back to the court-house. + </p> + <p> + The Sheriff's bluff became the topic of the rest of the term. Such + audacity, such resourcefulness had never been known. Thompson became more + popular than ever, and his re-election the following spring was admitted + to be certain. + </p> + <p> + “That Aleck Thompson 's the smartest man that is,” declared one of his + delighted adherents. + </p> + <p> + Thompson himself thought so, too, and his imitation of the Judge, of Dick + Creel, and of himself in court became his most popular story. + </p> + <p> + Only the old Judge moved among the throng of tittering laymen calm, + dignified, and unsuspecting. + </p> + <p> + “If ever he gets hold of you, Aleck,” said one of that worthy's + worshippers, “there 's likely to be a vacancy in the office of sheriff.” + </p> + <p> + “He 'll put me in jail,” laughed Aleck. “Dick Creel says he 's kind o' + doty.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV + </h2> + <p> + The Court was nearing the end of the term, <i>Dolittle et al. vs. + Dolittle's Executrix</i>, with all its witnesses and all its bitternesses, + had resulted in a mistrial, and the sister churches were wider apart than + ever. The rest of the docket was being daily disposed of. + </p> + <p> + The Sheriff was busy one day telling his story to an admiring throng on + the court-green when someone casually observed that Mrs. Dick Creel had + got off the train that morning. + </p> + <p> + The Sheriff's face changed a little. + </p> + <p> + “Where is she!” + </p> + <p> + “Waitin' in the tavern parlor.” + </p> + <p> + “What is she doing here! What is she doing in there!” + </p> + <p> + “Jest a settin' and a waitin'.” + </p> + <p> + “I 'spect she is waitin' for you, Aleck!” hazarded one of his friends. + </p> + <p> + There was a burst of laughter, for Squire Jefford's daughter, Mary, was + known to be “a woman of her own head.” + </p> + <p> + The Sheriff laughed, too; but his laughter was not as mirthful as usual. + He made an ineffectual attempt to keep up his jollity. + </p> + <p> + “I reckon I 'll go and see Mary,” he said at length. + </p> + <p> + He left the group with affected cheerfulness, but his heart was heavier + than he liked to admit. He made his way to the “ladies' parlor,” as the + little sitting-room in the south wing of the rambling old tavern, + overlooking the court-green was called, and opened the door. + </p> + <p> + On one side of the wood fire, in a stiff, high-backed chair sat a young + woman, in her hat and wrap and gloves, “jest a settin' and a waitin'.” She + was a well-made and comely young woman under thirty, with a ruddy face, + smooth hair and bright eyes that the Sheriff knew could both smile and + snap. Her head was well set on rather plump shoulders; her mouth was well + formed, but was now close drawn, and her chin was strong enough to show + firmness—too much firmness, as Thompson mentally decided when he + caught its profile. + </p> + <p> + The Sheriff advanced with an amiable smile. He was so surprised. + </p> + <p> + “Why, you here, Mary! When did you come?” His tone was affable and even + testified pleasure. But Mary did not unbend. She was as stiff as the chair + she sat in. Without turning her head she turned her eyes and looked at him + sideways. + </p> + <p> + “<i>Mrs. Creel</i>.” + </p> + <p> + There was a glint in her black eyes that meant war, and Thompson's + countenance fell. + </p> + <p> + “Ah-ur-Mrs. Creel.” + </p> + <p> + “I did n't know as you 'd know me!” She spoke quietly, her eyes still on + him sidewise. + </p> + <p> + “Not know you! Why, of course, I know you. I don't forget the pretty girls—leastways, + the prettiest girl in the county. Your father and I———” + </p> + <p> + “I heard you made a mistake about my husband and Jim Turkle. I thought + maybe you might think I was <i>Mrs</i>. Turkle.” + </p> + <p> + There was the least perceptible lifting of her shoulders and drawing down + of her mouth, but quite enough to suggest Jenny Turkle 's high shoulders + and grim face. + </p> + <p> + The Sheriff tried to lighten the conversation. + </p> + <p> + “Oh! Come now, Mary, you must n't get mad about that. It was all a joke. I + was comin' right up after court adjourned to tell you about it—and—. + It was the funniest thing! You 'd 'a' died laughing if you 'd been here + and seen——” + </p> + <p> + “I heard they was all laughin' about it. <i>I</i> ain't so easy to amuse.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! Yes, you would, too,” began Thompson, cajolingly. “If you 'd seen——” + </p> + <p> + “What time does Court adjourn!” she asked, quietly and irrelevantly, + </p> + <p> + “Oh, not for two or three—not for <i>several</i> days yet—Probably + 't will hold over till well into next week. But if you 'd seen——” + </p> + <p> + “I mean what time does it let out <i>to-day?</i>” + </p> + <p> + Thompson's face fell again. + </p> + <p> + “Why—ah—about—ah—Why! What do you want to know + for!” + </p> + <p> + “I want to see the Judge.” Her voice was dead level. + </p> + <p> + “What about!” + </p> + <p> + “About business!” + </p> + <p> + “What business!” + </p> + <p> + “<i>Co'te</i> business,” with cold irony. + </p> + <p> + “You don't mean that you 're goin' to——!” + </p> + <p> + He paused without framing the rest of the question. + </p> + <p> + She suddenly stood up and flamed out. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I am—that 's just what I am goin' to do. That 's what I 've + come here for. You may take a liberty with the Judge—he 's doty; but + you can't take a liberty with <i>me</i>—I 'm Squire Jefford's + daughter, and I 'm goin' to show you.” + </p> + <p> + She was facing him now, and her black eyes were darting fire. Thompson was + quite staggered. + </p> + <p> + “Why, Mary! I am surprised at you. Your father's old friend—who has + had you on his knee many a time. I am shocked and surprised—and + mortified and—astonished—and mortified——” + </p> + <p> + “You 've done said that one once,” she said, icily. + </p> + <p> + “Why, Mary, I thought we were friends—” he began. But she cut in on + him. + </p> + <p> + “Friends!” She spoke with contempt. “You 've had it in for Dick ever since + he was a boy.” Her voice suddenly broke and the tears sprang to her eyes + and rolled down her cheeks. + </p> + <p> + “Why, Mary—no such thing—I assure you—Dick and I are the + best of friends—<i>dear</i> friends.” + </p> + <p> + Her sniff was more forcible than words. She wiped her eyes and looked at + him with freezing contempt. + </p> + <p> + “I 'm a fool! And I don't want you to be <i>Mary</i>-in' me, either. If + Dick chooses to let you get him drunk and make a beast and a fool of him + and drag him up before the Court like a—a—like that drunkard, + Jim Turkle, what don't know how to behave himself seemly in Court, and + Circuit Court at that—he may; but I 'll let you know, <i>I'm</i> not + goin' to do it. I don't mean the Judge to think my husband's a thing like + that. I mean to set him right. And I 'll tell him you are nothing but an + old gambler who spends your time ruinin' young men, and braggin' as how + you can bluff anybody.” + </p> + <p> + “Mary!—ur—Mrs. Creel!” gasped the Sheriff. + </p> + <p> + She stalked by him wiping her eyes, and marched straight to the door; but + the Sheriff was too quick for her. His office, his reputation, everything + hung on his pacifying her. He sprang to the door and, standing with his + back against it, began to apologize in so humble a tone that even the + angry wife could not but listen to him. + </p> + <p> + He said everything that any mortal could have said, and declared that he + would do anything on earth that she might ask. + </p> + <p> + She reflected, and he began to hope again. When their eyes met, hers were + still hard, but they were calmer. + </p> + <p> + “I know you think you are making a fool of me,” she began, and then as he + protested she shut him up with a sharp gesture. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, you do, you think so; but you are not. There is but one thing I will + accept in apology.” + </p> + <p> + “What is that!” + </p> + <p> + “You are to make Dick your deputy.” + </p> + <p> + “But, M——” + </p> + <p> + “I knew you would n't. Stand aside.” She gave a sweep of the arm. + </p> + <p> + “But, Mary!” + </p> + <p> + “Stand aside, I say—I 'd rather have you removed anyway.” + </p> + <p> + “But, Mary, just listen——” + </p> + <p> + “Stand aside, or I will call.” She straightened herself and looked past + him, as if listening. + </p> + <p> + “But, Mary, do be reasonable!” + </p> + <p> + She opened her mouth as if to cry out. The Sheriff threw up both hands. + </p> + <p> + “Mary, please—For kingdom's sake, don't! What unreasonable creatures + women are!” + </p> + <p> + “You 'd better let women alone. One is as much as you can manage now.” She + spoke witheringly. “I give you one more chance.” + </p> + <p> + “More than I can manage. You know Dick will get drunk——” + </p> + <p> + “Not unless you make him. Who was drunk at that barbecue at Jones's Cross + Roads last summer!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Mary!” + </p> + <p> + “Who set up till after Sunday mornin' playin' kyards—. Yes, <i>gamblin''</i> + the last night of last County Cote!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Mary!—All right. I lay down my hand.” + </p> + <p> + She drew paper and pencil from her little bag and held them out to him. + </p> + <p> + “Write it down.” + </p> + <p> + “Ain't my word good enough!” + </p> + <p> + “If you mean to do it, why are you afraid to write it!” + </p> + <p> + “I 'm not afraid.” + </p> + <p> + “Then write it.” She held the paper to him with outstretched arm. + </p> + <p> + “What shall I write!” + </p> + <p> + “Write what I say: 'I Aleck Thompson, promise and bind myself if I remain + in office for another term to appoint my <i>dear</i> friend, Dick Creel'—underscore + that—'my first deputy, and to keep him in as long as he keeps sober + and attends to his business.' Now sign it.” + </p> + <p> + “What consideration do I get for this!” Thompson looked up from the paper + at her ca-jolingly. She met his gaze with a little flash. + </p> + <p> + “Oh! I forgot the consideration,” she murmured, “and I Squire Jefford's + daughter, too! + </p> + <p> + “Write: 'The consideration for the above is the love I bear the aforesaid + Richard Creel, and the fear I have that his wife will tell the Judge what + a smart Aleck I am.'” + </p> + <p> + “Mary, you don't want me to write that!” + </p> + <p> + “Them very words. I little more forgot the consideration.” + </p> + <p> + The paper was written. + </p> + <p> + She glanced out of the window. + </p> + <p> + “Now I want a witness. I see the court is broken up.” + </p> + <p> + “Tain't necessary.” + </p> + <p> + “I want a witness, and I 'm goin' to <i>have</i> him.” + </p> + <p> + “Who!” + </p> + <p> + “The Judge.” + </p> + <p> + “Look here, Mary——” + </p> + <p> + “I 'm goin' to have him. You come and introduce me.” + </p> + <p> + “Mary, are you after all goin' to——” + </p> + <p> + She met his gaze frankly. + </p> + <p> + “No—unless you go back on me. If you do, I 'll tell him and show him + the paper; and what 's more, I 'll show it all around this county.” + </p> + <p> + A flash of genuine admiration sprang into the Sheriff's eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Mary, you ought to have been a man, or—Mrs. Aleck Thompson.” + </p> + <p> + The paper was signed and witnessed. + </p> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Sheriffs Bluff, by Thomas Nelson Page + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SHERIFFS BLUFF *** + +***** This file should be named 23510-h.htm or 23510-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/5/1/23510/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Sheriffs Bluff + 1908 + +Author: Thomas Nelson Page + +Release Date: November 16, 2007 [EBook #23510] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SHERIFFS BLUFF *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + +THE SHERIFFS BLUFF + +By Thomas Nelson Page + +Charles Scribner's Sons New York, 1908 + +Copyright, 1891, 1904, 1906 + + + + +I + +The county of H------ was an old Colonial county, and even as late as +the time of my story contained many Colonial relics. Among them were the +court-house and the jail, and, at that time, the Judge and the Sheriff. + +The court-house was an old brick edifice of solemn and grayish brown, +with a portico whose mighty columns might have stood before a temple +of Minerva overlooking the AEgean Sea. With its thick walls and massive +barred windows, it might have been thought the jail, until one saw the +jail. The jail once seen stood alone. A cube of stone, each block huge +enough to have come from the Pyramid of Cheops; the windows, or rather +the apertures, were small square openings, crossed and recrossed +with great bars of wrought iron, so massive that they might have been +fashioned on the forge of the Cyclops. Looking through them from the +outside, one saw just deep enough into the narrow cavern to see another +iron grating, and catch a suspicion of the darkness beyond. The entrance +was but a slit letting into a stone-paved corridor on which opened the +grinding iron doors of the four small cells, each door a grate of huge +iron bars, heavily crossed, with openings just large enough to admit +a hand. The jail was built, not to meet the sentimental or any other +requirements of a reasonable and humane age, but in that hard time when +crime was reckoned crime, when the very names of "gaol" and "prison" +stood for something clear and unmistakable. + +The Judge of the circuit was himself a relic of the past, for his youth +had been cast among those great ones of the earth whose memory had come +down coupled with deeds so heroic and far-reaching, that even to the +next generation the actors appeared half enveloped and magnified in the +halo of tradition. His life had been one of high rectitude and dignity, +to which habits of unusual studiousness and a great work on Executors +had added a reputation for vast learning, and in his old age both in his +manner and his habit he preserved a distance and a dignity of demeanor +which lent dignity to the Bar, and surrounded him wherever he went +with a feeling akin to awe. Though he had given up the queue and short +clothes, he still retained ruffles, or what was so closely akin to them +that the difference could scarcely be discerned. Tall, grave, and with a +little bend, not in the shoulders but in the neck; with white hair just +long enough to be brushed behind in a way to suggest the knot which +had once appeared at the back; with calm, quiet eyes under bushy white +eyebrows; a face of pinkish red inherited from Saxon ancestors, who once +lived in the sun and on the brine, and a mouth and chin which bespoke +decision and self-respect in every line and wrinkle, wherever he moved +he produced an impression of one who had survived from a preceding age. +Moreover, he was a man of heroic ideals, of Spartan simplicity, and of +inflexible discipline. + +If he had a weakness it was his susceptibility to feminine testimony. + +The county was a secluded one--a fitting field for such a judge. And the +great meetings of the year were the sessions of the Circuit Court. + +The Judge's name was then on every lip, and his passage to the +court-house was a procession. + +Everyone except those unfortunates who had come under his ban, or might +be too far gone in drink to venture into his presence, drew up along +the path from the tavern to bow to him and receive his courteous bow in +return as he passed with slow and thoughtful step along, preceded by the +Sheriff and his deputies, and followed by the Bar and "the multitude." + +Whenever he entered the court or rose from the bench the lawyers stood. + +If he was impressive off the bench, on the bench he was imposing. + +At heart one of the kindest of men, he added to great natural dignity a +high sense of the loft-iness of a position on the bench and preserved, +with impartial and inflexible rigor, the strictest order in his court, +ruling bar and attendants alike up to a high accountability. + +No one would any more have thought of taking a liberty with Judge Lomax +than he would have done it with an old lion. Just one man, possibly, +might have thought of it, but he would not have done it--and this was +Aleck Thompson, the Sheriff of the county, a jovial man past middle age, +a rubicund bachelor, who had courted half the girls in the county and +was intimate with more than half the people in the circuit. He was +daring even to rashness. He had held the office of Sheriff--not so long, +perhaps, as the Judge had sat on the bench, but, at least, since he +first stood for the place; and he could hold it as long as he wished it. +He was easily the most popular man in the county. He treated everybody +with unvarying joviality and indiscriminate generosity, and it was known +that his income, though large, was, except so much as was absolutely +necessary for his support, distributed with impartial fairness among the +people of his county, a part over the poker-table, a part over the bar, +and the balance in other popular ways. He had a face that no one could +read, and bluffed as well with a pair of treys as with four aces. But +he used to say that such a bluff was to be used rarely, and only on +important occasions. + +Now and then some opposition to him would arise and a small headway +would be made against him. As, for instance, after he advised Squire +Jefford's plump and comely daughter, Mary, not to marry Dick Creel, +because Dick was too dissipated. There were some who said that the +Sheriff had designs himself on Sam Jefford's buxom, black-eyed daughter, +while others held that he was afraid of young Dick, who was an amiable +and popular young fellow, and that he did not want him to get too much +influence in the lower end of the county. However it was, Mary Jefford +not only married her young lover, but sobered him, and as she was young, +pretty, and ambitious, and worshipped her husband, Dick Creel at the +next election, to use the vernacular, "made cornsideruble show runnin' +ag'inst the Sheriff, and give him cornsideruble trouble." Still, +Thompson was elected overwhelmingly, and few people believed Mary +Creel's charge that the Sheriff had got Dick drunk on purpose to beat +him. Thompson said, "Did n't anybody have to _git_ Dick drunk--the work +was t'other way." + + + + +II + +The session of the Circuit Court in the "------ year of the +Commonwealth," as the writs ran, and "in the sixteenth year of Aleck +Thompson's Sheriffalty," as that official used to say, was more than +usually important. The noted case of "_Dolittle et al. vs. Dolittle's +Executrix_" was tried at the autumn term of the court, and caused +considerable excitement in the county; for, in addition to the amount +of property and the nice questions of law which were involved, the two +sides had been severally espoused by two sister churches, and nearly +half the county was in attendance, either as witnesses or interested +spectators. Not only was every available corner in the little village +filled to overflowing with parties, witnesses, and their adherents, but +during the first week of the term the stable yards and road-sides were +lined with covered wagons and other vehicles, in or under which some +of those who had not been fortunate enough to obtain shelter in the +inn used to sleep, and "Briles's bar" under the tavern did a thriving +business. + +As the case, however, wore on, and the weather became inclement, the +crowd dropped off somewhat, though a sufficient number still remained to +give an air of life to the little roadside village. + +Certain of these visitors found the bar-room on the ground floor of +the tavern across the road more attractive than the court-room, and as +evening came the loud talking in that direction told that the visits had +not been fruitless. + +Perfect order, however, prevailed in the court, until one evening one +of these visitors, a young man named Turkle, who had been spending the +afternoon at the bar, made his way into the court-room. He was clad in +a dingy, weather-stained overcoat and an old slouch hat. He sank into +a seat at the end of a bench near the door and, being very drunk, soon +began to talk aloud to those about him. + +"Silence!" called the Sheriff over the heads of the crowd from his desk +in front, and those near the man cautioned him to stop talking. A moment +later, however, he began again. Again the Sheriff roared "Silence!" But +by this time the hot air of the court-room had warmed up Mr. Turkle, and +in answer to the warning of those about him, he declared in a maudlin +tone, that he "Warn't goin' to keep silence." + +"I got 's much right to talk 's anyone, and I'ma goin' to talk 's much +'s I please." + +His friends tried to silence him, and the Sheriff made his way through +the crowd and endeavored to induce him to leave the court-room. But it +was to no purpose. Jim Turkle was much too "far gone" to know what he +was doing, though he was in a delightfully good humor. He merely hugged +the Sheriff and laughed drunkenly. + +"Aleck, you jist go 'way f'om here. I ain't a-goin' to shet up. You shet +up yourself. I 'm a-goin' to talk all I please. Now, you hear it." + +Then as if to atone for his rudeness, he caught the Sheriff roughly by +the arm and pulled him toward him: + +"Aleck, how 's the case goin'? Is Mandy a goin' to win? Is that old +rascal rulin' right!" + +The Sheriff urged something in a low voice, but Turkle would not be +silenced. + +"Now you see thar," he broke out with a laugh to those about him, "did +n't I tell you Aleck wa' n 't nothin' but a' ol' drunkard? What d' +you s'pose the ol' rascal wants me to do? He wants me to go over there +to the bar and git drunk like 'im, and I ain't goin' to do it. I never +drink. I 've come here to see that my cousin Mandy's chil'ern gits +their patrimony, and I ain' a goin' to 'sociate with these here drunken +fellows like Aleck Thompson." + +The Sheriff made a final effort. He spoke positively, but Turkle would +not heed. + +"Oh, 'Judge' be damned! You and I know that ol' fellow loves a dram jest +'s well 's the best of 'em--jest 's well 's you do. Look at his face. +You think he got that drinkin' well-water! Bet yer he 's got a bottle in +'s pocket right now." + +A titter ran through the crowd, but was suddenly stopped. + +A quiet voice was heard from the other end of the court-room, and a +deathly silence fell on the assemblage. + +"Suspend for a moment, gentlemen, if you please. Mr. Sheriff, bring that +person to the bar of the Court." + +The crowd parted as if by magic, and the Sheriff led his drunken +constituent to the bar, where his befuddled brain took in just enough of +the situation to make him quiet enough. The Judge bent his sternest look +on him until he quailed. + +"Have you no more sense of propriety than to disturb a court of justice +in the exercise of its high function?" + +Turkle, however, was too drunk to understand this. He tried to steady +himself against the bar. + +"I ain't is-turbed no Court of function, and anybody 't says so, Jedge, +iz a liar." He dragged his hand across his mouth and tried to look +around upon the crowd with an air of drunken triumph, but he staggered +and would have fallen had not the Sheriff caught and supported him. + +The Judge's eyes had never left him. + +"Mr. Sheriff, take this intoxicated creature and confine him in the +county gaol until the expiration of the term. The very existence of a +court of justice depends upon the observance of order. Order must be +preserved and the dignity of the Court maintained." + +There was a stir--half of horror--throughout the court-room. Put a man +in that jail just for being tight! + +Then the Sheriff on one side and his deputy on the other, led the +culprit out, now sufficiently quiet and half whimpering. A considerable +portion of the crowd followed him. + +Outside, the prisoner was sober enough, and he begged hard to be let +off and allowed to go home. His friends, too, joined in his petition and +promised to guarantee that he would not come back again during the term +of court. But the Sheriff was firm. + +"No. The Judge told me to put you in jail and I 'm goin' to do it." He +took two huge iron keys from his deputy and rattled them fiercely. + +Turkle shrank back with horror. + +"You ain't goin' to put me in thar, Aleck! Not in that hole! Not just +for a little drop o' whiskey. It was _your_ whiskey, too, Aleck. I was +drinkin' yo' health, Aleck. You know I was." + +"The Judge won't know anything about it. He 'll never think of it +again," pleaded several of Turkle's friends. "You know he has ordered a +drunken man put there before and never said any more about it--just told +you to discharge him next day." + +Turkle stiffened up with hope. + +"Yes, Aleck." He leaned on the Sheriff's arm heavily. "He 's drunk +himself--I don't mean that, I mean _you 're_ drunk--oh, no--I mean _I'm_ +drunk. Everybody 's drunk." + +"Yes, you 've gone and called me a drunkard before the Court. Now I 'm +goin' to show you." Thompson rattled his big keys again savagely. + +Turkle caught him with both hands. + +"Oh, Aleck, don't talk that a-way," he pleaded in a tremulous voice. +"Don't talk that a-way!" He burst into tears and flung his arms around +the Sheriff's neck. He protested that he had never, seen him take a +drink in his life; he would go and tell the Judge so; if necessary, he +would swear to it on a Bible. + +"Aleck, you know I love you better than anybody in this world--except my +wife and children. Yes, better than them--better than Jinny. Jinny will +tell you that herself. Oh! Aleck!" He clung to him and sobbed! + +His friends indorsed this and declared that they would bring him back if +the Judge demanded his presence. They would "promise to bring him back +dead or alive at any time he sent for him." + +As Turkle and his friends were always warm supporters of the Sheriff, a +fact of which they did not fail to remind him, Thompson was not averse +to letting him off, especially as he felt tolerably sure that the Judge +would, as they said, forget all about the matter, or, if he remembered +it, would, as he had done before, simply order him to discharge the +prisoner. So, after dragging the culprit to the jail door to scare him +well and make his clemency the more impressive, he turned him over to +the others on condition that he would mount his mule and go straight +home and not come back again during the term. This Turkle was so glad to +do that he struck out at once for the stable at what Thompson called a +"turkey trot," and five minutes later he was galloping down the road, +swinging mightily on his sorrel mule, but whipping for life. + +That night Thompson was much toasted about the court-house for his +humanity. Several of his admirers, indeed, got into somewhat the same +condition that Turkle had been in. + +Even Dick Creel, who had come to court that day, lapsed from virtue and +fell a victim to the general hilarity. + + + + +III + +The next morning when court was opened, the Judge was even more than +usually dignified and formal. The customary routine of the morning +was gone through with; the orders of the day before were read and +were signed by the Judge with more than wonted solemnity. The Clerk, a +benignant-looking old man with a red face and a white beard, took up his +book and adjusted his glasses to call the pending docket: the case of +"_Dolittle vs. Dolittle's Ex'ex._," and the array of counsel drew their +chairs up to the bar and prepared for the work of the day, when the +Judge, taking off his spectacles, turned to the Sheriff's desk. + +"Mr. Sheriff, bring in that unfortunate inebriate whom I sentenced to +confinement in the gaol yesterday. The Court, while sensible of the +imperative necessity of protecting itself from all unseemly disorder and +preserving its dignity undiminished, nevertheless always leans to the +side of mercy. The Court trusts that a night's incarceration may have +sufficiently sobered and chastened the poor creature. The Court will +therefore give him a brief admonition and will then discharge him." + +The Judge sat back in his large arm-chair and waited benignantly with +his gaze resting placidly in front of him, while a deathly silence fell +on the crowd and every eye in the courthouse was turned on the Sheriff. + +Thompson, standing at his desk, was staring at the Judge with jaw +dropped and a dazed look like a man who had suddenly to face judgment. +He opened his lips twice as if to speak, then turned and went slowly out +of the court-house like a man in a dream, while those left behind looked +in each other's eyes, some half scared and others more than half amused. + +Outside, Thompson stopped just between two of the great pillars. +He rammed his hands deep in his pockets and gazed vacantly over the +court-green and up the road. + +"What will he do with you! Remove you!" asked two or three friends who +had slipped out of the door behind him and now stood about him. + +"He 'll put me in jail--_and_ remove me." + +***** + +"No matter if he says black 's white and white 's black, don't you open +your mouth or you 'll get it. It 's much as I can do to keep you out of +jail this minute." + +"But, Sheriff--! But, Aleck--! Just wait a minute! I don't----" + +The next instant he was inside the courthouse and the Sheriff was +marching him up the aisle between the upturned faces. He planted him at +the bar immediately before the Court, pulling off his hat in such a way +as to drag his hair over his face and give him an even more dishevelled +appearance than before. Then he moved around to his own desk, keeping +his eye fixed piercingly on the astonished Creel's bewildered face. A +gasp went over the court-room, and the Bar stared at the prisoner in +blank amazement. + +The Judge alone appeared oblivious of his presence. He had sat +absolutely silent and motionless since he had given the order to the +Sheriff to produce the prisoner, his face expressive of deep reflection. +Now he withdrew his eye from the ceiling. + +"Oh!" + +With impressive deliberation he put on his large gold-rimmed spectacles; +sat up in his chair; assumed his most judicial expression, which sat +curiously on his benignant face, and looked severely down upon the +culprit. The court-room shivered and Thompson's round face grew +perceptibly whiter; but his eyes, after a single glance darted at the +Judge, never left the face of the man at the bar. + +The next second the Judge began to speak, and Thompson, and the +court-room with him, heaved a deep sigh of relief. + +"Young man," said the Judge, "you have committed an act of grievous +impropriety. You have been guilty of one of the most reprehensible +offences that any citizen of a Commonwealth founded upon order and +justice could commit, an act of such flagrant culpability that the +Court, in the maintenance of its dignity and in the interest of the +Commonwealth found it necessary to visit upon you punishment of great +severity and incarcerate you in the gaol usually reserved for the most +depraved malefactors. Intemperance is one of the most debasing of +vices. It impairs the intellect and undermines the constitution. To +the inhibition of Holy Writ is added the cumulative if inferential +prohibition of the Law, which declines to consider inebriety, though +extreme enough in degree to impair if not destroy the reasoning faculty, +in mitigation of crime of the highest---- dignity. If you had no beloved +family to whom your conduct would be an affliction, yet you have a duty +to yourself and to the Commonwealth which you have flagrantly violated. +To shocking inebriety you added the even grosser misdemeanor of +disturbing a Court in the exercise of its supreme function: the calm, +orderly, and deliberate administration of justice between the citizens +of the Commonwealth." + +"But, Judge--?" began the young man. + +A sharp cough from the Sheriff interrupted him and he glanced at the +Sheriff to meet a menacing shake of the head. + +The strangeness of the scene and the impressive solemnity of the Judge +so wrought upon the young man that he began to whimper. He looked at the +Judge and once more opened his mouth to speak, but the Sheriff, called, +sharply: + +"Silence!" + +Creel glanced appealingly from the Judge to the Sheriff, only to meet +another imperative shake of the latter's head and a warning scowl. Then +the Judge proceeded, in a tone that showed that he was not insensible to +his altered manner. + +"The Court, always mindful of that mercy whose quality 'is not strained, +but droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath,' +trusts that your recent incarceration, though brief, may prove adequate +to the exigencies of the occasion. It hopes that the incarceration +of one night in the common gaol may prove in case of a young man like +yourself sufficiently efficacious to deter you from the repetition of +so grave a misdemeanor, and at the same time not crush too much that +generous spirit of youth which in its proper exercise may prove so +advantageous to its possessor, and redound so much to the benefit of +the Commonwealth. The order of the Court, therefore, is that the Sheriff +discharge you from further imprisonment. + +"Mr. Sheriff, conduct the young man to the door, caution him against a +recurrence of his offence, and direct him toward his home. + +"We will now proceed to call the docket." + +The court-room with another gasp broke into a buzz, which was instantly +quelled by the sharp command of the Sheriff for silence and order in the +court. + +"But, Judge--" began Creel again, "I don't understand--" + +What he did not understand was not heard, for Thompson seized the +prisoner before he could finish his sentence, and, with a grip of steel +on his arm, hustled him down the aisle and out of the court-room. + +A good many persons poured out of the court-room after them and with +subdued laughter followed the Sheriff and his charge across the green. +Thompson, however, did not wait for them. The young man appeared +inclined to argue. But the Sheriff gave him no time. Hurrying him down +the walk, he unhitched his horse for him and ordered him to mount. + +"But, Sheriff--Mr. Thompson, I 'm darned if I understand what it is all +about." + +"You were drunk," said Thompson--"flagrantly inebriated. Go home. Did +n't you hear the Judge?" + +"Yes, I heard him. He 's doty. I might have been drunk, but I 'm darned +if I slept in jail last night--I slept in----" + +"I 'm darned if you did n't," said the Sheriff. "The Judge has ruled +it so, and so you did. Now go home and don't you come back here again +during this term, or you will sleep in jail again." + +"That old Judge is doty," declared the young man with a tone of +conviction. + +"So much the worse for you if you come back here. Go home now, just as +quick as you can." + +Creel reflected for a moment. + +"Well, it beats my time. I 'll tell you what I 'll do, Mr. Thompson," he +said, half pleadingly. "I 'll go home and stay there if you will promise +not to tell my wife I was in jail." + +"I promise you," said Aleck, solemnly. "I give you my word I won't." + +"And what 's more," continued Creel, "if you 'll keep anybody else from +doing it, I 'll vote for you next time for Sheriff." + +"I promise you that, too," said Aleck, "and if anybody says you were +there, let me know, and I 'll come up there and--and tell her you were +n't. I can't do any more than that, can I?" + +"No, you can't do any more than that," admitted Creel, sadly, and, +leaning over and shaking hands with the Sheriff cordially for the first +time in some years, he rode away in profound dejection. + +"Well, I 've got to face Mary," he said, "and I reckon I might as well +do it. Whiskey is a queer thing. I must have been a lot drunker than I +thought I was, because if the Court had n't ruled it, I would have sworn +I slept in that there wing room last night." + +"Well, that 's the best bluff I ever put up," said Thompson to the +throng about him as he turned back to the court-house. + +The Sheriff's bluff became the topic of the rest of the term. Such +audacity, such resourcefulness had never been known. Thompson became +more popular than ever, and his re-election the following spring was +admitted to be certain. + +"That Aleck Thompson 's the smartest man that is," declared one of his +delighted adherents. + +Thompson himself thought so, too, and his imitation of the Judge, of +Dick Creel, and of himself in court became his most popular story. + +Only the old Judge moved among the throng of tittering laymen calm, +dignified, and unsuspecting. + +"If ever he gets hold of you, Aleck," said one of that worthy's +worshippers, "there 's likely to be a vacancy in the office of sheriff." + +"He 'll put me in jail," laughed Aleck. "Dick Creel says he 's kind o' +doty." + + + + +IV + +The Court was nearing the end of the term, _Dolittle et al. vs. +Dolittle's Executrix_, with all its witnesses and all its bitternesses, +had resulted in a mistrial, and the sister churches were wider apart +than ever. The rest of the docket was being daily disposed of. + +The Sheriff was busy one day telling his story to an admiring throng on +the court-green when someone casually observed that Mrs. Dick Creel had +got off the train that morning. + +The Sheriff's face changed a little. + +"Where is she!" + +"Waitin' in the tavern parlor." + +"What is she doing here! What is she doing in there!" + +"Jest a settin' and a waitin'." + +"I 'spect she is waitin' for you, Aleck!" hazarded one of his friends. + +There was a burst of laughter, for Squire Jefford's daughter, Mary, was +known to be "a woman of her own head." + +The Sheriff laughed, too; but his laughter was not as mirthful as usual. +He made an ineffectual attempt to keep up his jollity. + +"I reckon I 'll go and see Mary," he said at length. + +He left the group with affected cheerfulness, but his heart was heavier +than he liked to admit. He made his way to the "ladies' parlor," as +the little sitting-room in the south wing of the rambling old tavern, +overlooking the court-green was called, and opened the door. + +On one side of the wood fire, in a stiff, high-backed chair sat a young +woman, in her hat and wrap and gloves, "jest a settin' and a waitin'." +She was a well-made and comely young woman under thirty, with a ruddy +face, smooth hair and bright eyes that the Sheriff knew could both smile +and snap. Her head was well set on rather plump shoulders; her mouth was +well formed, but was now close drawn, and her chin was strong enough to +show firmness--too much firmness, as Thompson mentally decided when he +caught its profile. + +The Sheriff advanced with an amiable smile. He was so surprised. + +"Why, you here, Mary! When did you come?" His tone was affable and even +testified pleasure. But Mary did not unbend. She was as stiff as the +chair she sat in. Without turning her head she turned her eyes and +looked at him sideways. + +"_Mrs. Creel_." + +There was a glint in her black eyes that meant war, and Thompson's +countenance fell. + +"Ah-ur-Mrs. Creel." + +"I did n't know as you 'd know me!" She spoke quietly, her eyes still on +him sidewise. + +"Not know you! Why, of course, I know you. I don't forget the pretty +girls--leastways, the prettiest girl in the county. Your father and +I------" + +"I heard you made a mistake about my husband and Jim Turkle. I thought +maybe you might think I was _Mrs_. Turkle." + +There was the least perceptible lifting of her shoulders and drawing +down of her mouth, but quite enough to suggest Jenny Turkle 's high +shoulders and grim face. + +The Sheriff tried to lighten the conversation. + +"Oh! Come now, Mary, you must n't get mad about that. It was all a joke. +I was comin' right up after court adjourned to tell you about it--and--. +It was the funniest thing! You 'd 'a' died laughing if you 'd been here +and seen----" + +"I heard they was all laughin' about it. _I_ ain't so easy to amuse." + +"Oh! Yes, you would, too," began Thompson, cajolingly. "If you 'd +seen----" + +"What time does Court adjourn!" she asked, quietly and irrelevantly, + +"Oh, not for two or three--not for _several_ days yet--Probably 't will +hold over till well into next week. But if you 'd seen----" + +"I mean what time does it let out _to-day?_" + +Thompson's face fell again. + +"Why--ah--about--ah--Why! What do you want to know for!" + +"I want to see the Judge." Her voice was dead level. + +"What about!" + +"About business!" + +"What business!" + +"_Co'te_ business," with cold irony. + +"You don't mean that you 're goin' to----!" + +He paused without framing the rest of the question. + +She suddenly stood up and flamed out. + +"Yes, I am--that 's just what I am goin' to do. That 's what I 've come +here for. You may take a liberty with the Judge--he 's doty; but you +can't take a liberty with _me_--I 'm Squire Jefford's daughter, and I 'm +goin' to show you." + +She was facing him now, and her black eyes were darting fire. Thompson +was quite staggered. + +"Why, Mary! I am surprised at you. Your father's old friend--who has had +you on his knee many a time. I am shocked and surprised--and mortified +and--astonished--and mortified----" + +"You 've done said that one once," she said, icily. + +"Why, Mary, I thought we were friends--" he began. But she cut in on +him. + +"Friends!" She spoke with contempt. "You 've had it in for Dick ever +since he was a boy." Her voice suddenly broke and the tears sprang to +her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. + +"Why, Mary--no such thing--I assure you--Dick and I are the best of +friends--_dear_ friends." + +Her sniff was more forcible than words. She wiped her eyes and looked at +him with freezing contempt. + +"I 'm a fool! And I don't want you to be _Mary_-in' me, either. If Dick +chooses to let you get him drunk and make a beast and a fool of him and +drag him up before the Court like a--a--like that drunkard, Jim Turkle, +what don't know how to behave himself seemly in Court, and Circuit Court +at that--he may; but I 'll let you know, _I'm_ not goin' to do it. I +don't mean the Judge to think my husband's a thing like that. I mean to +set him right. And I 'll tell him you are nothing but an old gambler who +spends your time ruinin' young men, and braggin' as how you can bluff +anybody." + +"Mary!--ur--Mrs. Creel!" gasped the Sheriff. + +She stalked by him wiping her eyes, and marched straight to the door; +but the Sheriff was too quick for her. His office, his reputation, +everything hung on his pacifying her. He sprang to the door and, +standing with his back against it, began to apologize in so humble a +tone that even the angry wife could not but listen to him. + +He said everything that any mortal could have said, and declared that he +would do anything on earth that she might ask. + +She reflected, and he began to hope again. When their eyes met, hers +were still hard, but they were calmer. + +"I know you think you are making a fool of me," she began, and then as +he protested she shut him up with a sharp gesture. + +"Yes, you do, you think so; but you are not. There is but one thing I +will accept in apology." + +"What is that!" + +"You are to make Dick your deputy." + +"But, M----" + +"I knew you would n't. Stand aside." She gave a sweep of the arm. + +"But, Mary!" + +"Stand aside, I say--I 'd rather have you removed anyway." + +"But, Mary, just listen----" + +"Stand aside, or I will call." She straightened herself and looked past +him, as if listening. + +"But, Mary, do be reasonable!" + +She opened her mouth as if to cry out. The Sheriff threw up both hands. + +"Mary, please--For kingdom's sake, don't! What unreasonable creatures +women are!" + +"You 'd better let women alone. One is as much as you can manage now." +She spoke witheringly. "I give you one more chance." + +"More than I can manage. You know Dick will get drunk----" + +"Not unless you make him. Who was drunk at that barbecue at Jones's +Cross Roads last summer!" + +"Oh, Mary!" + +"Who set up till after Sunday mornin' playin' kyards--. Yes, _gamblin'_ +the last night of last County Cote!" + +"Oh, Mary!--All right. I lay down my hand." + +She drew paper and pencil from her little bag and held them out to him. + +"Write it down." + +"Ain't my word good enough!" + +"If you mean to do it, why are you afraid to write it!" + +"I 'm not afraid." + +"Then write it." She held the paper to him with outstretched arm. + +"What shall I write!" + +"Write what I say: 'I Aleck Thompson, promise and bind myself if I +remain in office for another term to appoint my _dear_ friend, Dick +Creel'--underscore that--'my first deputy, and to keep him in as long as +he keeps sober and attends to his business.' Now sign it." + +"What consideration do I get for this!" Thompson looked up from the +paper at her ca-jolingly. She met his gaze with a little flash. + +"Oh! I forgot the consideration," she murmured, "and I Squire Jefford's +daughter, too! + +"Write: 'The consideration for the above is the love I bear the +aforesaid Richard Creel, and the fear I have that his wife will tell the +Judge what a smart Aleck I am.'" + +"Mary, you don't want me to write that!" + +"Them very words. I little more forgot the consideration." + +The paper was written. + +She glanced out of the window. + +"Now I want a witness. I see the court is broken up." + +"Tain't necessary." + +"I want a witness, and I 'm goin' to _have_ him." + +"Who!" + +"The Judge." + +"Look here, Mary----" + +"I 'm goin' to have him. You come and introduce me." + +"Mary, are you after all goin' to----" + +She met his gaze frankly. + +"No--unless you go back on me. If you do, I 'll tell him and show him +the paper; and what 's more, I 'll show it all around this county." + +A flash of genuine admiration sprang into the Sheriff's eyes. + +"Mary, you ought to have been a man, or--Mrs. Aleck Thompson." + +The paper was signed and witnessed. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Sheriffs Bluff, by Thomas Nelson Page + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SHERIFFS BLUFF *** + +***** This file should be named 23510.txt or 23510.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/5/1/23510/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Sheriffs Bluff + 1908 + +Author: Thomas Nelson Page + +Release Date: November 16, 2007 [EBook #23510] +Last Updated: March 8, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SHERIFFS BLUFF *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + THE SHERIFFS BLUFF + </h1> + <h2> + By Thomas Nelson Page <br /> <br /> Charles Scribner's Sons New York, 1908 + <br /><br /> Copyright, 1801, 1904, 1906 + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> I </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> II </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> III </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> IV </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + I + </h2> + <p> + The county of H——— was an old Colonial county, and even + as late as the time of my story contained many Colonial relics. Among them + were the court-house and the jail, and, at that time, the Judge and the + Sheriff. + </p> + <p> + The court-house was an old brick edifice of solemn and grayish brown, with + a portico whose mighty columns might have stood before a temple of Minerva + overlooking the Ægean Sea. With its thick walls and massive barred + windows, it might have been thought the jail, until one saw the jail. The + jail once seen stood alone. A cube of stone, each block huge enough to + have come from the Pyramid of Cheops; the windows, or rather the + apertures, were small square openings, crossed and recrossed with great + bars of wrought iron, so massive that they might have been fashioned on + the forge of the Cyclops. Looking through them from the outside, one saw + just deep enough into the narrow cavern to see another iron grating, and + catch a suspicion of the darkness beyond. The entrance was but a slit + letting into a stone-paved corridor on which opened the grinding iron + doors of the four small cells, each door a grate of huge iron bars, + heavily crossed, with openings just large enough to admit a hand. The jail + was built, not to meet the sentimental or any other requirements of a + reasonable and humane age, but in that hard time when crime was reckoned + crime, when the very names of “gaol” and “prison” stood for something + clear and unmistakable. + </p> + <p> + The Judge of the circuit was himself a relic of the past, for his youth + had been cast among those great ones of the earth whose memory had come + down coupled with deeds so heroic and far-reaching, that even to the next + generation the actors appeared half enveloped and magnified in the halo of + tradition. His life had been one of high rectitude and dignity, to which + habits of unusual studiousness and a great work on Executors had added a + reputation for vast learning, and in his old age both in his manner and + his habit he preserved a distance and a dignity of demeanor which lent + dignity to the Bar, and surrounded him wherever he went with a feeling + akin to awe. Though he had given up the queue and short clothes, he still + retained ruffles, or what was so closely akin to them that the difference + could scarcely be discerned. Tall, grave, and with a little bend, not in + the shoulders but in the neck; with white hair just long enough to be + brushed behind in a way to suggest the knot which had once appeared at the + back; with calm, quiet eyes under bushy white eyebrows; a face of pinkish + red inherited from Saxon ancestors, who once lived in the sun and on the + brine, and a mouth and chin which bespoke decision and self-respect in + every line and wrinkle, wherever he moved he produced an impression of one + who had survived from a preceding age. Moreover, he was a man of heroic + ideals, of Spartan simplicity, and of inflexible discipline. + </p> + <p> + If he had a weakness it was his susceptibility to feminine testimony. + </p> + <p> + The county was a secluded one—a fitting field for such a judge. And + the great meetings of the year were the sessions of the Circuit Court. + </p> + <p> + The Judge's name was then on every lip, and his passage to the court-house + was a procession. + </p> + <p> + Everyone except those unfortunates who had come under his ban, or might be + too far gone in drink to venture into his presence, drew up along the path + from the tavern to bow to him and receive his courteous bow in return as + he passed with slow and thoughtful step along, preceded by the Sheriff and + his deputies, and followed by the Bar and “the multitude.” + </p> + <p> + Whenever he entered the court or rose from the bench the lawyers stood. + </p> + <p> + If he was impressive off the bench, on the bench he was imposing. + </p> + <p> + At heart one of the kindest of men, he added to great natural dignity a + high sense of the loft-iness of a position on the bench and preserved, + with impartial and inflexible rigor, the strictest order in his court, + ruling bar and attendants alike up to a high accountability. + </p> + <p> + No one would any more have thought of taking a liberty with Judge Lomax + than he would have done it with an old lion. Just one man, possibly, might + have thought of it, but he would not have done it—and this was Aleck + Thompson, the Sheriff of the county, a jovial man past middle age, a + rubicund bachelor, who had courted half the girls in the county and was + intimate with more than half the people in the circuit. He was daring even + to rashness. He had held the office of Sheriff—not so long, perhaps, + as the Judge had sat on the bench, but, at least, since he first stood for + the place; and he could hold it as long as he wished it. He was easily the + most popular man in the county. He treated everybody with unvarying + joviality and indiscriminate generosity, and it was known that his income, + though large, was, except so much as was absolutely necessary for his + support, distributed with impartial fairness among the people of his + county, a part over the poker-table, a part over the bar, and the balance + in other popular ways. He had a face that no one could read, and bluffed + as well with a pair of treys as with four aces. But he used to say that + such a bluff was to be used rarely, and only on important occasions. + </p> + <p> + Now and then some opposition to him would arise and a small headway would + be made against him. As, for instance, after he advised Squire Jefford's + plump and comely daughter, Mary, not to marry Dick Creel, because Dick was + too dissipated. There were some who said that the Sheriff had designs + himself on Sam Jefford's buxom, black-eyed daughter, while others held + that he was afraid of young Dick, who was an amiable and popular young + fellow, and that he did not want him to get too much influence in the + lower end of the county. However it was, Mary Jefford not only married her + young lover, but sobered him, and as she was young, pretty, and ambitious, + and worshipped her husband, Dick Creel at the next election, to use the + vernacular, “made cornsideruble show runnin' ag'inst the Sheriff, and give + him cornsideruble trouble.” Still, Thompson was elected overwhelmingly, + and few people believed Mary Creel's charge that the Sheriff had got Dick + drunk on purpose to beat him. Thompson said, “Did n't anybody have to <i>git</i> + Dick drunk—the work was t'other way.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II + </h2> + <p> + The session of the Circuit Court in the “——— year of the + Commonwealth,” as the writs ran, and “in the sixteenth year of Aleck + Thompson's Sheriffalty,” as that official used to say, was more than + usually important. The noted case of “<i>Dolittle et al. vs. Dolittle's + Executrix</i>” was tried at the autumn term of the court, and caused + considerable excitement in the county; for, in addition to the amount of + property and the nice questions of law which were involved, the two sides + had been severally espoused by two sister churches, and nearly half the + county was in attendance, either as witnesses or interested spectators. + Not only was every available corner in the little village filled to + overflowing with parties, witnesses, and their adherents, but during the + first week of the term the stable yards and road-sides were lined with + covered wagons and other vehicles, in or under which some of those who had + not been fortunate enough to obtain shelter in the inn used to sleep, and + “Briles's bar” under the tavern did a thriving business. + </p> + <p> + As the case, however, wore on, and the weather became inclement, the crowd + dropped off somewhat, though a sufficient number still remained to give an + air of life to the little roadside village. + </p> + <p> + Certain of these visitors found the bar-room on the ground floor of the + tavern across the road more attractive than the court-room, and as evening + came the loud talking in that direction told that the visits had not been + fruitless. + </p> + <p> + Perfect order, however, prevailed in the court, until one evening one of + these visitors, a young man named Turkle, who had been spending the + afternoon at the bar, made his way into the court-room. He was clad in a + dingy, weather-stained overcoat and an old slouch hat. He sank into a seat + at the end of a bench near the door and, being very drunk, soon began to + talk aloud to those about him. + </p> + <p> + “Silence!” called the Sheriff over the heads of the crowd from his desk in + front, and those near the man cautioned him to stop talking. A moment + later, however, he began again. Again the Sheriff roared “Silence!” But by + this time the hot air of the court-room had warmed up Mr. Turkle, and in + answer to the warning of those about him, he declared in a maudlin tone, + that he “Warn't goin' to keep silence.” + </p> + <p> + “I got 's much right to talk 's anyone, and I'ma goin' to talk 's much 's + I please.” + </p> + <p> + His friends tried to silence him, and the Sheriff made his way through the + crowd and endeavored to induce him to leave the court-room. But it was to + no purpose. Jim Turkle was much too “far gone” to know what he was doing, + though he was in a delightfully good humor. He merely hugged the Sheriff + and laughed drunkenly. + </p> + <p> + “Aleck, you jist go 'way f'om here. I ain't a-goin' to shet up. You shet + up yourself. I 'm a-goin' to talk all I please. Now, you hear it.” + </p> + <p> + Then as if to atone for his rudeness, he caught the Sheriff roughly by the + arm and pulled him toward him: + </p> + <p> + “Aleck, how 's the case goin'? Is Mandy a goin' to win? Is that old rascal + rulin' right!” + </p> + <p> + The Sheriff urged something in a low voice, but Turkle would not be + silenced. + </p> + <p> + “Now you see thar,” he broke out with a laugh to those about him, “did n't + I tell you Aleck wa' n 't nothin' but a' ol' drunkard? What d' you s'pose + the ol' rascal wants me to do? He wants me to go over there to the bar and + git drunk like 'im, and I ain't goin' to do it. I never drink. I 've come + here to see that my cousin Mandy's chil'ern gits their patrimony, and I + ain' a goin' to 'sociate with these here drunken fellows like Aleck + Thompson.” + </p> + <p> + The Sheriff made a final effort. He spoke positively, but Turkle would not + heed. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, 'Judge' be damned! You and I know that ol' fellow loves a dram jest + 's well 's the best of 'em—jest 's well 's you do. Look at his face. + You think he got that drinkin' well-water! Bet yer he 's got a bottle in + 's pocket right now.” + </p> + <p> + A titter ran through the crowd, but was suddenly stopped. + </p> + <p> + A quiet voice was heard from the other end of the court-room, and a + deathly silence fell on the assemblage. + </p> + <p> + “Suspend for a moment, gentlemen, if you please. Mr. Sheriff, bring that + person to the bar of the Court.” + </p> + <p> + The crowd parted as if by magic, and the Sheriff led his drunken + constituent to the bar, where his befuddled brain took in just enough of + the situation to make him quiet enough. The Judge bent his sternest look + on him until he quailed. + </p> + <p> + “Have you no more sense of propriety than to disturb a court of justice in + the exercise of its high function?” + </p> + <p> + Turkle, however, was too drunk to understand this. He tried to steady + himself against the bar. + </p> + <p> + “I ain't is-turbed no Court of function, and anybody 't says so, Jedge, iz + a liar.” He dragged his hand across his mouth and tried to look around + upon the crowd with an air of drunken triumph, but he staggered and would + have fallen had not the Sheriff caught and supported him. + </p> + <p> + The Judge's eyes had never left him. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Sheriff, take this intoxicated creature and confine him in the county + gaol until the expiration of the term. The very existence of a court of + justice depends upon the observance of order. Order must be preserved and + the dignity of the Court maintained.” + </p> + <p> + There was a stir—half of horror—throughout the court-room. Put + a man in that jail just for being tight! + </p> + <p> + Then the Sheriff on one side and his deputy on the other, led the culprit + out, now sufficiently quiet and half whimpering. A considerable portion of + the crowd followed him. + </p> + <p> + Outside, the prisoner was sober enough, and he begged hard to be let off + and allowed to go home. His friends, too, joined in his petition and + promised to guarantee that he would not come back again during the term of + court. But the Sheriff was firm. + </p> + <p> + “No. The Judge told me to put you in jail and I 'm goin' to do it.” He + took two huge iron keys from his deputy and rattled them fiercely. + </p> + <p> + Turkle shrank back with horror. + </p> + <p> + “You ain't goin' to put me in thar, Aleck! Not in that hole! Not just for + a little drop o' whiskey. It was <i>your</i> whiskey, too, Aleck. I was + drinkin' yo' health, Aleck. You know I was.” + </p> + <p> + “The Judge won't know anything about it. He 'll never think of it again,” + pleaded several of Turkle's friends. “You know he has ordered a drunken + man put there before and never said any more about it—just told you + to discharge him next day.” + </p> + <p> + Turkle stiffened up with hope. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, Aleck.” He leaned on the Sheriff's arm heavily. “He 's drunk himself—I + don't mean that, I mean <i>you 're</i> drunk—oh, no—I mean <i>I'm</i> + drunk. Everybody 's drunk.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, you 've gone and called me a drunkard before the Court. Now I 'm + goin' to show you.” Thompson rattled his big keys again savagely. + </p> + <p> + Turkle caught him with both hands. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Aleck, don't talk that a-way,” he pleaded in a tremulous voice. + “Don't talk that a-way!” He burst into tears and flung his arms around the + Sheriff's neck. He protested that he had never, seen him take a drink in + his life; he would go and tell the Judge so; if necessary, he would swear + to it on a Bible. + </p> + <p> + “Aleck, you know I love you better than anybody in this world—except + my wife and children. Yes, better than them—better than Jinny. Jinny + will tell you that herself. Oh! Aleck!” He clung to him and sobbed! + </p> + <p> + His friends indorsed this and declared that they would bring him back if + the Judge demanded his presence. They would “promise to bring him back + dead or alive at any time he sent for him.” + </p> + <p> + As Turkle and his friends were always warm supporters of the Sheriff, a + fact of which they did not fail to remind him, Thompson was not averse to + letting him off, especially as he felt tolerably sure that the Judge + would, as they said, forget all about the matter, or, if he remembered it, + would, as he had done before, simply order him to discharge the prisoner. + So, after dragging the culprit to the jail door to scare him well and make + his clemency the more impressive, he turned him over to the others on + condition that he would mount his mule and go straight home and not come + back again during the term. This Turkle was so glad to do that he struck + out at once for the stable at what Thompson called a “turkey trot,” and + five minutes later he was galloping down the road, swinging mightily on + his sorrel mule, but whipping for life. + </p> + <p> + That night Thompson was much toasted about the court-house for his + humanity. Several of his admirers, indeed, got into somewhat the same + condition that Turkle had been in. + </p> + <p> + Even Dick Creel, who had come to court that day, lapsed from virtue and + fell a victim to the general hilarity. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III + </h2> + <p> + The next morning when court was opened, the Judge was even more than + usually dignified and formal. The customary routine of the morning was + gone through with; the orders of the day before were read and were signed + by the Judge with more than wonted solemnity. The Clerk, a + benignant-looking old man with a red face and a white beard, took up his + book and adjusted his glasses to call the pending docket: the case of “<i>Dolittle + vs. Dolittle's Ex'ex.</i>,” and the array of counsel drew their chairs up + to the bar and prepared for the work of the day, when the Judge, taking + off his spectacles, turned to the Sheriff's desk. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Sheriff, bring in that unfortunate inebriate whom I sentenced to + confinement in the gaol yesterday. The Court, while sensible of the + imperative necessity of protecting itself from all unseemly disorder and + preserving its dignity undiminished, nevertheless always leans to the side + of mercy. The Court trusts that a night's incarceration may have + sufficiently sobered and chastened the poor creature. The Court will + therefore give him a brief admonition and will then discharge him.” + </p> + <p> + The Judge sat back in his large arm-chair and waited benignantly with his + gaze resting placidly in front of him, while a deathly silence fell on the + crowd and every eye in the courthouse was turned on the Sheriff. + </p> + <p> + Thompson, standing at his desk, was staring at the Judge with jaw dropped + and a dazed look like a man who had suddenly to face judgment. He opened + his lips twice as if to speak, then turned and went slowly out of the + court-house like a man in a dream, while those left behind looked in each + other's eyes, some half scared and others more than half amused. + </p> + <p> + Outside, Thompson stopped just between two of the great pillars. He rammed + his hands deep in his pockets and gazed vacantly over the court-green and + up the road. + </p> + <p> + “What will he do with you! Remove you!” asked two or three friends who had + slipped out of the door behind him and now stood about him. + </p> + <p> + “He 'll put me in jail—<i>and</i> remove me.” + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + “No matter if he says black 's white and white 's black, don't you open + your mouth or you 'll get it. It 's much as I can do to keep you out of + jail this minute.” + </p> + <p> + “But, Sheriff—! But, Aleck—! Just wait a minute! I don't——” + </p> + <p> + The next instant he was inside the courthouse and the Sheriff was marching + him up the aisle between the upturned faces. He planted him at the bar + immediately before the Court, pulling off his hat in such a way as to drag + his hair over his face and give him an even more dishevelled appearance + than before. Then he moved around to his own desk, keeping his eye fixed + piercingly on the astonished Creel's bewildered face. A gasp went over the + court-room, and the Bar stared at the prisoner in blank amazement. + </p> + <p> + The Judge alone appeared oblivious of his presence. He had sat absolutely + silent and motionless since he had given the order to the Sheriff to + produce the prisoner, his face expressive of deep reflection. Now he + withdrew his eye from the ceiling. + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” + </p> + <p> + With impressive deliberation he put on his large gold-rimmed spectacles; + sat up in his chair; assumed his most judicial expression, which sat + curiously on his benignant face, and looked severely down upon the + culprit. The court-room shivered and Thompson's round face grew + perceptibly whiter; but his eyes, after a single glance darted at the + Judge, never left the face of the man at the bar. + </p> + <p> + The next second the Judge began to speak, and Thompson, and the court-room + with him, heaved a deep sigh of relief. + </p> + <p> + “Young man,” said the Judge, “you have committed an act of grievous + impropriety. You have been guilty of one of the most reprehensible + offences that any citizen of a Commonwealth founded upon order and justice + could commit, an act of such flagrant culpability that the Court, in the + maintenance of its dignity and in the interest of the Commonwealth found + it necessary to visit upon you punishment of great severity and + incarcerate you in the gaol usually reserved for the most depraved + malefactors. Intemperance is one of the most debasing of vices. It impairs + the intellect and undermines the constitution. To the inhibition of Holy + Writ is added the cumulative if inferential prohibition of the Law, which + declines to consider inebriety, though extreme enough in degree to impair + if not destroy the reasoning faculty, in mitigation of crime of the + highest—— dignity. If you had no beloved family to whom your + conduct would be an affliction, yet you have a duty to yourself and to the + Commonwealth which you have flagrantly violated. To shocking inebriety you + added the even grosser misdemeanor of disturbing a Court in the exercise + of its supreme function: the calm, orderly, and deliberate administration + of justice between the citizens of the Commonwealth.” + </p> + <p> + “But, Judge—?” began the young man. + </p> + <p> + A sharp cough from the Sheriff interrupted him and he glanced at the + Sheriff to meet a menacing shake of the head. + </p> + <p> + The strangeness of the scene and the impressive solemnity of the Judge so + wrought upon the young man that he began to whimper. He looked at the + Judge and once more opened his mouth to speak, but the Sheriff, called, + sharply: + </p> + <p> + “Silence!” + </p> + <p> + Creel glanced appealingly from the Judge to the Sheriff, only to meet + another imperative shake of the latter's head and a warning scowl. Then + the Judge proceeded, in a tone that showed that he was not insensible to + his altered manner. + </p> + <p> + “The Court, always mindful of that mercy whose quality 'is not strained, + but droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath,' + trusts that your recent incarceration, though brief, may prove adequate to + the exigencies of the occasion. It hopes that the incarceration of one + night in the common gaol may prove in case of a young man like yourself + sufficiently efficacious to deter you from the repetition of so grave a + misdemeanor, and at the same time not crush too much that generous spirit + of youth which in its proper exercise may prove so advantageous to its + possessor, and redound so much to the benefit of the Commonwealth. The + order of the Court, therefore, is that the Sheriff discharge you from + further imprisonment. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Sheriff, conduct the young man to the door, caution him against a + recurrence of his offence, and direct him toward his home. + </p> + <p> + “We will now proceed to call the docket.” + </p> + <p> + The court-room with another gasp broke into a buzz, which was instantly + quelled by the sharp command of the Sheriff for silence and order in the + court. + </p> + <p> + “But, Judge—” began Creel again, “I don't understand—” + </p> + <p> + What he did not understand was not heard, for Thompson seized the prisoner + before he could finish his sentence, and, with a grip of steel on his arm, + hustled him down the aisle and out of the court-room. + </p> + <p> + A good many persons poured out of the court-room after them and with + subdued laughter followed the Sheriff and his charge across the green. + Thompson, however, did not wait for them. The young man appeared inclined + to argue. But the Sheriff gave him no time. Hurrying him down the walk, he + unhitched his horse for him and ordered him to mount. + </p> + <p> + “But, Sheriff—Mr. Thompson, I 'm darned if I understand what it is + all about.” + </p> + <p> + “You were drunk,” said Thompson—“flagrantly inebriated. Go home. Did + n't you hear the Judge?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I heard him. He 's doty. I might have been drunk, but I 'm darned if + I slept in jail last night—I slept in——” + </p> + <p> + “I 'm darned if you did n't,” said the Sheriff. “The Judge has ruled it + so, and so you did. Now go home and don't you come back here again during + this term, or you will sleep in jail again.” + </p> + <p> + “That old Judge is doty,” declared the young man with a tone of + conviction. + </p> + <p> + “So much the worse for you if you come back here. Go home now, just as + quick as you can.” + </p> + <p> + Creel reflected for a moment. + </p> + <p> + “Well, it beats my time. I 'll tell you what I 'll do, Mr. Thompson,” he + said, half pleadingly. “I 'll go home and stay there if you will promise + not to tell my wife I was in jail.” + </p> + <p> + “I promise you,” said Aleck, solemnly. “I give you my word I won't.” + </p> + <p> + “And what 's more,” continued Creel, “if you 'll keep anybody else from + doing it, I 'll vote for you next time for Sheriff.” + </p> + <p> + “I promise you that, too,” said Aleck, “and if anybody says you were + there, let me know, and I 'll come up there and—and tell her you + were n't. I can't do any more than that, can I?” + </p> + <p> + “No, you can't do any more than that,” admitted Creel, sadly, and, leaning + over and shaking hands with the Sheriff cordially for the first time in + some years, he rode away in profound dejection. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I 've got to face Mary,” he said, “and I reckon I might as well do + it. Whiskey is a queer thing. I must have been a lot drunker than I + thought I was, because if the Court had n't ruled it, I would have sworn I + slept in that there wing room last night.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, that 's the best bluff I ever put up,” said Thompson to the throng + about him as he turned back to the court-house. + </p> + <p> + The Sheriff's bluff became the topic of the rest of the term. Such + audacity, such resourcefulness had never been known. Thompson became more + popular than ever, and his re-election the following spring was admitted + to be certain. + </p> + <p> + “That Aleck Thompson 's the smartest man that is,” declared one of his + delighted adherents. + </p> + <p> + Thompson himself thought so, too, and his imitation of the Judge, of Dick + Creel, and of himself in court became his most popular story. + </p> + <p> + Only the old Judge moved among the throng of tittering laymen calm, + dignified, and unsuspecting. + </p> + <p> + “If ever he gets hold of you, Aleck,” said one of that worthy's + worshippers, “there 's likely to be a vacancy in the office of sheriff.” + </p> + <p> + “He 'll put me in jail,” laughed Aleck. “Dick Creel says he 's kind o' + doty.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV + </h2> + <p> + The Court was nearing the end of the term, <i>Dolittle et al. vs. + Dolittle's Executrix</i>, with all its witnesses and all its bitternesses, + had resulted in a mistrial, and the sister churches were wider apart than + ever. The rest of the docket was being daily disposed of. + </p> + <p> + The Sheriff was busy one day telling his story to an admiring throng on + the court-green when someone casually observed that Mrs. Dick Creel had + got off the train that morning. + </p> + <p> + The Sheriff's face changed a little. + </p> + <p> + “Where is she!” + </p> + <p> + “Waitin' in the tavern parlor.” + </p> + <p> + “What is she doing here! What is she doing in there!” + </p> + <p> + “Jest a settin' and a waitin'.” + </p> + <p> + “I 'spect she is waitin' for you, Aleck!” hazarded one of his friends. + </p> + <p> + There was a burst of laughter, for Squire Jefford's daughter, Mary, was + known to be “a woman of her own head.” + </p> + <p> + The Sheriff laughed, too; but his laughter was not as mirthful as usual. + He made an ineffectual attempt to keep up his jollity. + </p> + <p> + “I reckon I 'll go and see Mary,” he said at length. + </p> + <p> + He left the group with affected cheerfulness, but his heart was heavier + than he liked to admit. He made his way to the “ladies' parlor,” as the + little sitting-room in the south wing of the rambling old tavern, + overlooking the court-green was called, and opened the door. + </p> + <p> + On one side of the wood fire, in a stiff, high-backed chair sat a young + woman, in her hat and wrap and gloves, “jest a settin' and a waitin'.” She + was a well-made and comely young woman under thirty, with a ruddy face, + smooth hair and bright eyes that the Sheriff knew could both smile and + snap. Her head was well set on rather plump shoulders; her mouth was well + formed, but was now close drawn, and her chin was strong enough to show + firmness—too much firmness, as Thompson mentally decided when he + caught its profile. + </p> + <p> + The Sheriff advanced with an amiable smile. He was so surprised. + </p> + <p> + “Why, you here, Mary! When did you come?” His tone was affable and even + testified pleasure. But Mary did not unbend. She was as stiff as the chair + she sat in. Without turning her head she turned her eyes and looked at him + sideways. + </p> + <p> + “<i>Mrs. Creel</i>.” + </p> + <p> + There was a glint in her black eyes that meant war, and Thompson's + countenance fell. + </p> + <p> + “Ah-ur-Mrs. Creel.” + </p> + <p> + “I did n't know as you 'd know me!” She spoke quietly, her eyes still on + him sidewise. + </p> + <p> + “Not know you! Why, of course, I know you. I don't forget the pretty girls—leastways, + the prettiest girl in the county. Your father and I———” + </p> + <p> + “I heard you made a mistake about my husband and Jim Turkle. I thought + maybe you might think I was <i>Mrs</i>. Turkle.” + </p> + <p> + There was the least perceptible lifting of her shoulders and drawing down + of her mouth, but quite enough to suggest Jenny Turkle 's high shoulders + and grim face. + </p> + <p> + The Sheriff tried to lighten the conversation. + </p> + <p> + “Oh! Come now, Mary, you must n't get mad about that. It was all a joke. I + was comin' right up after court adjourned to tell you about it—and—. + It was the funniest thing! You 'd 'a' died laughing if you 'd been here + and seen——” + </p> + <p> + “I heard they was all laughin' about it. <i>I</i> ain't so easy to amuse.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! Yes, you would, too,” began Thompson, cajolingly. “If you 'd seen——” + </p> + <p> + “What time does Court adjourn!” she asked, quietly and irrelevantly, + </p> + <p> + “Oh, not for two or three—not for <i>several</i> days yet—Probably + 't will hold over till well into next week. But if you 'd seen——” + </p> + <p> + “I mean what time does it let out <i>to-day?</i>” + </p> + <p> + Thompson's face fell again. + </p> + <p> + “Why—ah—about—ah—Why! What do you want to know + for!” + </p> + <p> + “I want to see the Judge.” Her voice was dead level. + </p> + <p> + “What about!” + </p> + <p> + “About business!” + </p> + <p> + “What business!” + </p> + <p> + “<i>Co'te</i> business,” with cold irony. + </p> + <p> + “You don't mean that you 're goin' to——!” + </p> + <p> + He paused without framing the rest of the question. + </p> + <p> + She suddenly stood up and flamed out. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I am—that 's just what I am goin' to do. That 's what I 've + come here for. You may take a liberty with the Judge—he 's doty; but + you can't take a liberty with <i>me</i>—I 'm Squire Jefford's + daughter, and I 'm goin' to show you.” + </p> + <p> + She was facing him now, and her black eyes were darting fire. Thompson was + quite staggered. + </p> + <p> + “Why, Mary! I am surprised at you. Your father's old friend—who has + had you on his knee many a time. I am shocked and surprised—and + mortified and—astonished—and mortified——” + </p> + <p> + “You 've done said that one once,” she said, icily. + </p> + <p> + “Why, Mary, I thought we were friends—” he began. But she cut in on + him. + </p> + <p> + “Friends!” She spoke with contempt. “You 've had it in for Dick ever since + he was a boy.” Her voice suddenly broke and the tears sprang to her eyes + and rolled down her cheeks. + </p> + <p> + “Why, Mary—no such thing—I assure you—Dick and I are the + best of friends—<i>dear</i> friends.” + </p> + <p> + Her sniff was more forcible than words. She wiped her eyes and looked at + him with freezing contempt. + </p> + <p> + “I 'm a fool! And I don't want you to be <i>Mary</i>-in' me, either. If + Dick chooses to let you get him drunk and make a beast and a fool of him + and drag him up before the Court like a—a—like that drunkard, + Jim Turkle, what don't know how to behave himself seemly in Court, and + Circuit Court at that—he may; but I 'll let you know, <i>I'm</i> not + goin' to do it. I don't mean the Judge to think my husband's a thing like + that. I mean to set him right. And I 'll tell him you are nothing but an + old gambler who spends your time ruinin' young men, and braggin' as how + you can bluff anybody.” + </p> + <p> + “Mary!—ur—Mrs. Creel!” gasped the Sheriff. + </p> + <p> + She stalked by him wiping her eyes, and marched straight to the door; but + the Sheriff was too quick for her. His office, his reputation, everything + hung on his pacifying her. He sprang to the door and, standing with his + back against it, began to apologize in so humble a tone that even the + angry wife could not but listen to him. + </p> + <p> + He said everything that any mortal could have said, and declared that he + would do anything on earth that she might ask. + </p> + <p> + She reflected, and he began to hope again. When their eyes met, hers were + still hard, but they were calmer. + </p> + <p> + “I know you think you are making a fool of me,” she began, and then as he + protested she shut him up with a sharp gesture. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, you do, you think so; but you are not. There is but one thing I will + accept in apology.” + </p> + <p> + “What is that!” + </p> + <p> + “You are to make Dick your deputy.” + </p> + <p> + “But, M——” + </p> + <p> + “I knew you would n't. Stand aside.” She gave a sweep of the arm. + </p> + <p> + “But, Mary!” + </p> + <p> + “Stand aside, I say—I 'd rather have you removed anyway.” + </p> + <p> + “But, Mary, just listen——” + </p> + <p> + “Stand aside, or I will call.” She straightened herself and looked past + him, as if listening. + </p> + <p> + “But, Mary, do be reasonable!” + </p> + <p> + She opened her mouth as if to cry out. The Sheriff threw up both hands. + </p> + <p> + “Mary, please—For kingdom's sake, don't! What unreasonable creatures + women are!” + </p> + <p> + “You 'd better let women alone. One is as much as you can manage now.” She + spoke witheringly. “I give you one more chance.” + </p> + <p> + “More than I can manage. You know Dick will get drunk——” + </p> + <p> + “Not unless you make him. Who was drunk at that barbecue at Jones's Cross + Roads last summer!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Mary!” + </p> + <p> + “Who set up till after Sunday mornin' playin' kyards—. Yes, <i>gamblin''</i> + the last night of last County Cote!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Mary!—All right. I lay down my hand.” + </p> + <p> + She drew paper and pencil from her little bag and held them out to him. + </p> + <p> + “Write it down.” + </p> + <p> + “Ain't my word good enough!” + </p> + <p> + “If you mean to do it, why are you afraid to write it!” + </p> + <p> + “I 'm not afraid.” + </p> + <p> + “Then write it.” She held the paper to him with outstretched arm. + </p> + <p> + “What shall I write!” + </p> + <p> + “Write what I say: 'I Aleck Thompson, promise and bind myself if I remain + in office for another term to appoint my <i>dear</i> friend, Dick Creel'—underscore + that—'my first deputy, and to keep him in as long as he keeps sober + and attends to his business.' Now sign it.” + </p> + <p> + “What consideration do I get for this!” Thompson looked up from the paper + at her ca-jolingly. She met his gaze with a little flash. + </p> + <p> + “Oh! I forgot the consideration,” she murmured, “and I Squire Jefford's + daughter, too! + </p> + <p> + “Write: 'The consideration for the above is the love I bear the aforesaid + Richard Creel, and the fear I have that his wife will tell the Judge what + a smart Aleck I am.'” + </p> + <p> + “Mary, you don't want me to write that!” + </p> + <p> + “Them very words. I little more forgot the consideration.” + </p> + <p> + The paper was written. + </p> + <p> + She glanced out of the window. + </p> + <p> + “Now I want a witness. I see the court is broken up.” + </p> + <p> + “Tain't necessary.” + </p> + <p> + “I want a witness, and I 'm goin' to <i>have</i> him.” + </p> + <p> + “Who!” + </p> + <p> + “The Judge.” + </p> + <p> + “Look here, Mary——” + </p> + <p> + “I 'm goin' to have him. You come and introduce me.” + </p> + <p> + “Mary, are you after all goin' to——” + </p> + <p> + She met his gaze frankly. + </p> + <p> + “No—unless you go back on me. If you do, I 'll tell him and show him + the paper; and what 's more, I 'll show it all around this county.” + </p> + <p> + A flash of genuine admiration sprang into the Sheriff's eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Mary, you ought to have been a man, or—Mrs. Aleck Thompson.” + </p> + <p> + The paper was signed and witnessed. + </p> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Sheriffs Bluff, by Thomas Nelson Page + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SHERIFFS BLUFF *** + +***** This file should be named 23510-h.htm or 23510-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/5/1/23510/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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